I know what… let�s all go to Canada for free medical care whenever we�re not feeling well.
Now that�s an affordable health plan.
Of course, the Canadian taxpayers would have to foot the bill, but, hey, you can�t have everything.
Ridiculous? Yeah, except, that�s the kind of thing happening at some of the public schools along our southern border, according to a recent Associated Press report.
It�s evidently actually worse than just the estimated 12 million people illegally living in the United States taking advantage of us.
The AP reported that public schools in some California border towns, have hundreds of students who cross from Mexico every morning for a free education at American taxpayer expense, and return home in the afternoon.
This situation is hampering the Calexico school district�s ability to provide an education to the citizens entitled to it, because there are too many students and too few classrooms, the story said.
In response, the district hired a photographer to snap pictures of the children at the city�s downtown border crossing and share the images with school principals, who use them as evidence to kick out non-residents, according to the story.
Every day along the 1,952-mile border, children from Mexico cross into the United States and attend public schools, the story adds, and there are evidently no statistics on just how many children we�re talking about.
This happens in part because citizenship isn�t the issue for school officials; district residency is, according the story, which adds that the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled illegal immigrants have a right to an education.
Therefore, schools don�t ask about immigration status.
But just waltzing in over the border to get free stuff others pay for is another thing altogether, it seems to me.
The story says that Calexico�s schools are now overcrowded. Taxpayers complain their children are bused across town because neighborhood schools are full, even after Calexico voters approved a $30 million construction measure in 2004, according to the story.
The story quotes a former mayor, who complained when his grandchildren were told there was no room in their neighborhood school, that �It�s not right� for U.S. taxpayers to build classrooms for Mexican residents.
Duh.
But some evidently say tracking children at the border goes too far, turning school officials into �immigration agents,� but, honestly, these must be people whose children aren�t trying to scrape the dregs of an education from the empty trough.
I mean, the incredible chutzpah displayed here is mind-boggling, and something has to be done.
It seems to me that unless we can reach into Mexico and tax these people to help pay for the services they�re getting, they shouldn�t be getting the services.
This is not a matter of denying basic human services to people living here, albeit illegally, which is a much stickier matter, I think.
A legitimate debate is possible over whether people who are not American citizens are entitled to American civil rights.
But these people don�t even live here. No good. No debate.
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