Florida policy subverts the 14th Amendment and adds to troubled future
The 14thAmendment to the U.S. constitution states that anyone born on U.S. soil is acitizen, a right which many nativists have sought to overturn for the childrenof undocumented immigrants. While most of these challenges have come throughcongress, the state of Florida enacted a policy in 2009 that subverts a law thathas stood for over 140 years. Put most simply, Florida denies U.S. citizens bornto undocumented parents their legal right to pay in-state tuition rates -- evenwhen these young people have met residency requirements including graduatingfrom state high schools.
Now, fivestudents born in the U.S. to undocumented parents are suing the state. In a USAToday article Michael Hethmon, director of the ImmigrationReform Law Institute states: "As thequestion of illegal immigration remains unresolved, it becomes an obviousflashpoint and you'll see issues like this coming up repeatedly in the comingyears."
Those "comingyears" will forge a generation of young Latinos for whom prejudice will seem ascommonplace as smart phones. In less than 15 years, one in four young peopleentering their volatile late teens will be Latinos. If we see a continuation ofthe implicit discrimination of nativist excesses like this Florida policy andthe harsh laws already in place in Arizona, Alabama, Georgia and other states,we can expect a troubled future.
As my previousessay makes clear, history shows we are approaching the conditions to createa generation of political activists – or even cadres of revolutionaries.
Raul Ramos ySanchez
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Now, fivestudents born in the U.S. to undocumented parents are suing the state. In a USAToday article Michael Hethmon, director of the ImmigrationReform Law Institute states: "As thequestion of illegal immigration remains unresolved, it becomes an obviousflashpoint and you'll see issues like this coming up repeatedly in the comingyears."
Those "comingyears" will forge a generation of young Latinos for whom prejudice will seem ascommonplace as smart phones. In less than 15 years, one in four young peopleentering their volatile late teens will be Latinos. If we see a continuation ofthe implicit discrimination of nativist excesses like this Florida policy andthe harsh laws already in place in Arizona, Alabama, Georgia and other states,we can expect a troubled future.
As my previousessay makes clear, history shows we are approaching the conditions to createa generation of political activists – or even cadres of revolutionaries.
Raul Ramos ySanchez
[image error]
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