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American Morning

New Plan Gives Illegal Immigrants Equal Status with American Citizens When It Comes to Attending State Colleges in California

Aired January 21, 2002 - 09:22   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: Let's go to California now. There is a new plan out there that gives illegal immigrants equal status with American citizens when it comes to attending state colleges in California. The plan calls for undocumented residents to get the same tuition rates that California residents receive at state universities. Some say it's just a reward for hardworking laborers. Others say it is downright un-American.

Joining us now from Sacramento to talk about it, Ward Connerly is a member of California board of regents, and California Lieutenant Governor Cruise Bustamante is also a member of board of regents.

Mr. Bustamante, let me begin with you. You voted in favor of this. Why?

CRUZ BUSTAMANTE, CALIFORNIA LT. GOVERNOR: Well first of all, the viewers have to understand that this is going to be a situation where kids are in the process of becoming legalized. In other words, their parents brought them here illegally, but they are now in the process of being legalized. They've made an application.

CAFFERTY: Why not wait until they've become legal citizens to offer these kinds of breaks to them?

BUSTAMANTE: Most of these folks are people who do work that most of us would never do. In fact, many of these folks are propping up industries like agriculture, many others, they are hardworking folks, they are paying their taxes, and in fact, you cannot become legal if you have been on welfare. So we are talking about people who are hardworking folks, and their children have been going to our schools, and they are at that point now where they want to go to college, and in fact, they are high-achieving kids.

CAFFERTY: What kind of discount are we talking about here? How much money is involved?

BUSTAMANTE: No. No, what we are talking about them paying $4,000 dollars a year, the same as the other kids who are going to school here in California. And in fact, what we are basically doing is we are following a law that has been that has been approved by legislature in a bipartisan support for the community colleges and the state colleges, and what the regents were doing for the university system was just following a pattern that has already been put into law.

CAFFERTY: Ward Connerly is the chairman of the California Civil Rights Initiative. He's also joining us this morning. You are opposed this idea. Why?

WARD CONNERLY, CALIF. BOARD OF REGENTS: Well, unfortunately, I couldn't hear what the lieutenant governor had to say, but every nation on the planet that I know of has a requirement that in order to get public benefits, you be a citizen of the nation and a legal resident. What the lieutenant governor and the Latino caucus and governor of this state have done is to force the regents of the University of California and to adopt in the legislature a policy that cleverly gets around this requirement. And I wish they could be equally as creative in finding employment for all of those Californian-American residents are going to have to pay this $11,000 dollar per year, per student subsidy.

CAFFERTY: Who is going to pay for that?

CONNERLY: The taxpayers are going to pay for it.

CAFFERTY: The citizens of California.

CONNERLY: The citizens of California, and to some extent, the federal taxpayers, are going to pay for this generosity.

CAFFERTY: There is an argument that says that this kind of a giveaway, for want of better word, will do nothing but invite more illegal immigrants into the country. You can come here, go to a high school for three years and then qualify for these huge discounts to go on and to attend college. Is that a legitimate argument, in your opinion?

CONNERLY: It is a very legitimate argument, it's a very valid argument. If anything, September 11th ought to have taught us something about our squishy, cavalier attitude about immigration. And what this is going to do is to provide a very attractive lure from people from southeast Asia, for Mexico to come to California, because you can get a subsidized education there.

ZAHN: Let me go back a moment to the lieutenant governor of the state, Mr. Bustamante, and ask whether or not, and surely somebody will do this, whether or not this thing can withstand a court challenge.

BUSTAMANTE: I believe it will withstand a court challenge. The state of California has provided exemptions for many different kinds of folks. You have to understand that this is a very narrow exemption. It would have never gotten Democrat and Republican support had it not been very narrow. We are only talking about a few hundred students, and we're talking about those who are basically in the process of becoming legalized. If any of you ever submitted paperwork, I mean, these folks are in sort of a legal purgatory, if you will. They have supplied their information, they are waiting to become legalized, and they are just -- I mean, if you ever been -- ever waited for the bureaucracy to file their paperwork, they are just in the process of being approved.

CAFFERTY: Right. Mr. Connerly raises a point, though, that the citizens of this country, the citizens of your state, even federal taxpayers, to a degree, are going to have to foot the bill for this. Why should I pay for this?

I'm asking Mr. Bustamante, Mr. Connerly raised point tax payers have to pay for this. Why do we?

BUSTAMANTE: I understand, but for one to, first of all, to equate this to September 11th is outrageous. This has nothing to do...

CAFFERTY: Excuse me, please answer my question about why should taxpayers have to pay the bill.

BUSTAMANTE: Excuse me, I will get there. I am definitely getting there. First of all, as I mentioned earlier, the exemption is provided just like many other exemptions that take place, within school system. This is a law that the state of California believes. These are students who once they graduate from high school have a lower level of being able to get good jobs, and pay taxes, and become citizens of this state.

When they go to college and they graduate from college, they are able to get much bigger paying jobs, and they going to be contributing much more to the economy of California. So we are not talking about losing anything in the future. We are talking about really, high- quality students who are going to college.

CAFFERTY: All right, appreciate your time this morning, Mr. Bustamante. Thank you for joining us.

BUSTAMANTE: I wish we had more.

CAFFERTY: I wish we did, too. Maybe we can visit this again in the future.

BUSTAMANTE: I'd love to.

CAFFERTY: Cruz Bustamante, who is the lieutenant governor of the state of California, Ward Connerly, chairman of the California Civil Rights Initiative.

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