This document discusses issues around educating undocumented immigrant children in the United States. It notes that while some argue undocumented immigrants do not pay taxes, studies have found that millions file tax returns or pay other taxes. The Supreme Court has ruled that all children have a right to public education regardless of immigration status. However, educating undocumented immigrant children is an expensive issue that costs billions per year in some states. Potential solutions discussed include passing legislation like the DREAM Act to provide a path to citizenship for some undocumented youth or improving funding and methods for educating immigrant students.

1. By: Heather Vermilio (Descendent of WOP Immigrants) Immigration- who are you people anyway!?!

2. Immigration- a little background According to DHS, there are approximately 10.8 million illegal aliens living in the United States today. This is down 10% from the 2007 estimates Approximately 1.68 million live in Texas today. Texas is the number 2 state for amount of illegal aliens (California is number 1)

3. Illegal Immigrants and Education- The Issue Should illegal aliens be educated in the United States?

4. Illegal Aliens and Taxes Perhaps one of the biggest arguments about educating illegal aliens is the idea that illegal aliens do not pay taxes.

5. The Real Deal… This is a fallacy. An estimated 2.5 million illegal aliens paid taxes using an ITINs (Individual Taxpayer Identification number)in 2004, while another estimated 9 million that filed under mismatched SS numbers.* It is estimated that illegal aliens have paid in approximately 428 billion dollars to the nations 13.6 trillion GDP in 2006.* *According to USA Today Article

6. What about the 14th amendment? The 14th amendment states: http://topics.law.cornell.edu/constitution/amendmentxiv

7. It’s been reinterpreted… In Plyler v. Doe, the US Supreme Court ruled in a 5-4 vote that all children residing in the US had a right to receive an education, REGARDLESS OF THEIR STATUS (Cornell Law). * Carabelli 117.

8. Immigrant Children Don’t Want to Learn… Do They? Depends on the kid. Illegal immigrant children are really no different than any other, some wish to learn and some do not. However, in my research with the homeless, I found that many of the Hispanic individuals were willing to talk to me. Upon inquiring why that was to two of my participants, they both answered “It’s practice. We want to learn English. We want to be like everyone else in the country. Why can’t you people understand that?”

9. Education is EXPENSIVE This is true. The average child costs approximately 12,028 dollars a year to educate. If you times that by approximately 3.7 million illegal alien children living in California, it comes out to be 44.5 billion (AJC).

10. The Flip Side of the Coin There is no way to know how many illegal aliens are really in our schools (We can’t ask as it goes against the 5th amendment) (Congressional Digest) Students that require ESL are costly but create jobs for teachers and aides.

11. Illegal aliens and esl… Not all children enrolled in ESL are illegal immigrants (Hebel et al. 2010). Currently, there is no legal way to determine whether students enrolled in these courses are in the country legally(GAO 2004)

12. one last thing to note…

13. Think about it… Technically, We are all Immigrants….

14. Research Purpose The purpose of this research is to understand how individuals perceive illegal immigration Do these individuals really know the facts surrounding illegal immigration or are their opinions bred from fear and bias?

15. Potential Implications: Individuals are ill informed about illegal immigration US citizens have negative views on the whole pertaining to Immigration Poor data collection from the US government has caused confusion over true illegal immigration numbers.

16. What can be done to solve the problem? Further research into alternative funding for education Better methods for teaching Illegal Aliens Better education about the issue More accurate record keeping Passing The Dream Act or Legislature similar to it.

17. The Dream Act The DREAM act would,… “enable students under the age of 16 brought by their parents illegally to the US illegally to gain citizenship by completing two years of high school, college, or military service” (Orchowski 2010). This would allow students an opportunity to pursue further educational opportunities in the USA. This would also reduce the current subclass from growing.

18. References C. (n.d.). Education Benefits for Undocumented Immigrants. Retrieved March 20, 2011, from EBSCO. Carabelli, M. J. (2009). Whose Children are These? A Rational Approach to Educating Illegal-Alien Schoolchildren. Retrieved March, 2011, from Academic Search Complete. GAO. (2004, June). GAO Report to the Chairman, Comittee, on the Judiciary, House of Representatives- Illegal Alien School Children. Retrieved February 15, 2011, from Academic Search Complete. Hebel, S., & Sewall, M. (2010, July 30). Legal or Illegal, Mexican Immigrants Pose and Educational Challenge to States. Retrieved February 25, 2011, from Academic Search Complete. Izumi, L. T. (2010, August 17). Educating illegal immigrants is costly | ajc.com. Atlanta News, Sports, Atlanta Weather, Business News | ajc.com. Retrieved March 23, 2011, from http://www.ajc.com/opinion/educating-illegal-immigrants-is-594092.html Loller, T. (2008, April 11). Many illegal immigrants pay up at tax time - USATODAY.com. News, Travel, Weather, Entertainment, Sports, Technology, U.S. & World - USATODAY.com. Retrieved March 23, 2011, from http://www.usatoday.com/money/perfi/taxes/2008-04-10-immigrantstaxes_N.htm Orchowski, P. (2010, August 9). Children of Illegal Immigrants Caught in Education Politics Crossfire - US News and World Report. US News & World Report | News & Rankings | Best Colleges, Best Hospitals, and more. Retrieved March 23, 2011, from http://www.usnews.com/opinion/articles/2010/08/09/children-of-illegal-immigrants-caught-in-education-politics-crossfire Salamon, J. (n.d.). Everything you Ever Wanted to Know About Illegal Immigration. Retrieved February 15, 2011, from Academic Search Complete.