Progressives Push Universities to Aid Illegals, not American Youth

The Democratic Party’s leading think-tank, the Center for American Progress, is working with illegal aliens and amnesty advocates to encourage colleges and universities to admit and fund more illegal aliens in place of young Americans.

More than 320,000 young illegals have already enr0lled in colleges, and “our colleges and universities play a vital role in creating an environment where these young [illegal alien] people can learn, grow and graduate in peace,” said Winnie Stachelberg, a top official at the Center for American Progress Action Fund. She spoke Wednesday at a D.C. event, declaring:

We’ve gathered here today because we understand the enormous stakes to protect the nearly 800,000 dreamers whose lives have been endangered by Donald Trump.

She touted CAP’S “Generation Project” initiative, which is designed to help illegal aliens get into U.S. colleges and universities. The initiative tells colleges and universities to “support every dreamer and every undocumented student,” to provide campus housing and financial aid to illegals, and to bar campus police from helping to enforce the nation’s immigration laws. CAP is also helping student organizations support illegals at college, she said, adding:

This kind of leadership will be a huge part of our nation’s push to strengthen protection for dreamers and for all undocumented students. And it will take all of us, outside advocates, school administrators, and campus activists, to let Congress know that it can’t wait to pass the Dream Act.

Laura Emiko Soltis, executive director of the “underground” Freedom University in Atlanta, Georgia, said the U.S. government should recognize that illegal aliens have a right to a taxpayer-funded education at American colleges. “This is a human right,” Soltis said. “This is a basic human right that’s not recognized in the United States.”

The CAP discussion did not address how putting illegal aliens in college displaces young Americans seeking a college education. The panel, which included illegal aliens, also did not say how the illegal population — 11 million at least — affects American students and employees.

According to federal data from the National Center for Education Statistics, millions of young American men are missing out on college:

In fall 2017, some 20.4 million students are expected to attend American colleges and universities, constituting an increase of about 5.1 million since fall 2000 (source).

Females are expected to account for the majority of college and university students in fall 2017: about 11.5 million females will attend in fall 2017, compared with 8.9 million males. Also, more students are expected to attend full time (an estimated 12.6 million students) than part time (about 7.8 million students) (source).

Some 7.0 million students will attend 2-year institutions and 13.4 million will attend 4-year institutions in fall 2017 …

For the 2015–16 academic year, the average annual price for undergraduate tuition, fees, room, and board was $16,757 at public institutions, $43,065 at private nonprofit institutions, and $23,776 at private for-profit institutions. Charges for tuition and required fees averaged $6,613 at public institutions, $31,411 at private nonprofit institutions, and $14,195 at private for-profit institutions (source).

A 2013 report by the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) described the impact of mass immigration on young Americans:

Business lobbyists are constantly calling for an increase in immigration and guest worker programs because increasing the number of job seekers benefits employers by creating an endless pool of cheap labor … Led by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, powerful lobbying groups have been able to stymie any real effort to secure the borders and enforce immigration laws on the interior. Accordingly, the balance of economic power has tilted overwhelmingly in favor of employers. Wages have not kept pace with worker productivity, and have not increased in line with soaring corporate profits.

Americans with lower levels of education and job skills have been hardest hit. many workers in the construction, landscaping, and service industries have been pushed out of the labor force. the H-1B and L visa programs have also suppressed wages in the tech industry and caused many Americans with degrees in those fields to seek employment in non-related occupations. Economic indicators show little promise for substantial recovery in the foreseeable future.

Overall, the federal government is helping companies import several hundred thousand of white-collar workers each year via legal immigration routes, plus the various visa-worker programs, such as the H-1B and OPT programs. The program increases the supply of labor and depresses salaries paid to white-collar Americans. For example, a recent job report by Forrester Research Inc. shows that information-technology experts gained only a 2.2 percent annual salary gain from 2011 to 2018.

Soltis, the executive director at Freedom University said her school for illegal immigrants is based on the United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights because education is a universal human right. “[It’s] the idea that all people have inherent rights and dignity by virtue of their humanity,” Soltis said, adding that all courses are free. “Not what side of a manmade border they may have been born on or may have crossed in their lifetime, but that they have that inherent dignity.”

“At Freedom University we teach a universal human rights framework so that students don’t think that they are outside the law or that they don’t have rights, which impacts their sense of basic human dignity and worth,” said Soltis, who wearing a t-shirt emblazoned with FU Georgia.

Soltis cited several articles in the UN document that state it is a universal human right to have an education, employment, housing, food, and clothing.

CAP, in fact, is pushing for much more than the protection of DACA students on college campuses.

“In the wake of the rescission of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, conversations on how student organizers can work with school administrators to implement policies that are supportive of both DACAmented and undocumented students are more important than ever,” the release on the event said. “Beyond the sanctuary campus movement, we must start talking about the role institutional leaders and campus organizers have in drumming up support for the passage of a clean Dream Act while at the same time working to implement school policies that will support those students who will not be protected or supported by such legislation.”

This push by the liberal think tank comes as Congress debates whether to pass legislation to give amnesty and an eventual pathway to citizenship to more than 800,000 illegal alien youth that is currently protected by DACA.