Illegal alien supporters have all sorts of reasons why they should have driver’s licenses, which avoids the point that they shouldn’t even be here to start with. Esder Chong, an illegal alien and DACA recipient from South Korea, and Nancy Cantor, Chancellor of Rutgers-Newark, give it another shot
For many New Jersey young people, getting a driver’s license is a critical on-ramp to their road to success. With 420,000 college students statewide but dormitories less than half of all campuses, ours is a state where access to educational opportunity for hundreds of thousands of students can depend on being able to drive to school. But current licensing regulations are a major roadblock for nearly half a million New Jersey residents who cannot access a driver’s license because they are undocumented.
Out of New Jersey’s 100,000 young dreamers, only 17,400 currently benefit from the access provided under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), a federal program that is now not available to new applicants. We need to make driver’s licenses accessible to all our aspiring students as the proposed Assembly Bill 4743/Senate Bill 3229 would do.
New Jersey has made tangible progress in supporting our N.J. dreamers with state laws making undocumented students eligible for in-state tuition and state financial help, but the inability to drive remains a significant obstacle preventing many from reaching their full potential. (snip)
The lack of a driver’s license impacts all aspects of student life: not only class attendance, but participation in student leadership programs and professional development opportunities such as internships that require easy mobility between campus and community. No license could also mean no job to help pay for school or even to help contribute to supporting a family.
They’re taking available spots from U.S. citizens.
The impact on families is also immense. When parents or siblings are undocumented and cannot drive legally, educational and job opportunities are severely restricted for them, as well, multiplying the stresses that families of immigrants already experience as they strive to contribute to our economy and our communities.
They can have those opportunities in their home countries, rather than taking them from U.S. citizens. The idea here, though, is just like always, once you get past the language: to give illegals some legal documentation, which leads to calling for more legalization, followed by calls for granting citizenship via amnesty.
This is not the time to slow down on opening up access to education and opportunity to young immigrants. Instead, let’s speed up to allow all qualified residents to access a driver’s license regardless of immigration status. These students are our next generation of leaders, entrepreneurs, innovators, and change-makers who deserve a fair chance to pursue their educational aspirations. When they succeed, we all succeed. Let’s make that a reality in New Jersey by passing legislation to expand access to drivers’ licenses now.
See? It’s about legalizing them.
I have to wonder, would Chancellor Cantor be fine with students stealing from the campus bookstore, as well as refusing to pay off their student loans debt? The kiddies need those books (which are required and vastly overpriced) and materials to do their class-work, right? So why not just take what they need? If they are spending all that money instead, it could cause stress on their families and themselves, right? So, theft is no big deal, right?
The same with the loans: it can cause major stress. So, why pay it back, right?
Nancy’s cool with that, right?
