Anti-DREAM Act Support from an Unexpected Ally: Ruben Navarrette

A prominent columnist whose beat is immigration recently wrote that illegal alien students who demand Congress pass a federal DREAM Act are acting like “spoiled brats” and “deserve a scolding” because they are “drunk on entitlement.”

I wish I could take credit for the column’s authorship. Heaven knows, I’m in total agreement. But in fact, prominent amnesty advocate Ruben Navarrette wrote it. [DREAMers Are Pushing Their Luck, by Ruben Navarrette, CNN News, December 19, 2012]

Navarrette correctly surmised that the alien students’ obnoxious behavior that includes unruly street protests and disruptive sit-ins throughout Congress’ halls turns off more people than it convinces. Among those most disgusted, opined Navarrette, are many who should be supportive like American-born Hispanics including the former League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) executive director, Arnold Torres.  Navarrette concluded that “These kids are just not that special anymore. That is, except to themselves.”

Three cheers for Navarrette for pointing out and emphasizing the obvious: that the “kids,” as he called them, “are drunk on entitlement.”

Meanwhile, in California, the state’s version of the Dream Act marches on. Even though California has had deficits in excess of $10 billion since at least 2007, funding for alien entitlements is always readily available. [California Budget Crisis, New York Times, November 28, 2012]

Despite Governor Jerry Brown’s protestations that California taxpayers will barely notice the program’s cost, the state’s Legislative Analyst’s Office calculated that by 2016-2017, funding will reach $65 million. Much of the money will come from Cal Grants, previously unavailable to aliens. The LAO report also indicated that Cal Grant money distributed to aliens would reduce the funding pool for citizen children.

In short, here’s what the California Dream Act does:

1. Takes a freshman seat away from a citizen. Colleges and universities have a fixed number of seats. When an alien takes one, an American may be rejected.
2. Costs taxpayers money they don’t have and adds to California’s never-ending budget deficit.
3. Encourages more illegal immigration.
4. If a federal DREAM Act passes, it would eventually grant citizenship to the students who could then legally apply for jobs. In 2012, California’s unemployment rate averaged about 10.5 percent, nearly 3 percent higher than the national average.

I’m all with Navarrette. And I’m enjoying the negative, nasty Internet feedback his column generated, almost exclusively from Hispanic activists. [Stop the Public Tantrum against DREAMers, by Raul Reyes, NBC Latino, January 3, 2013]