It does not require that. or that these names be transmitted to any other Federal agency. All we are asking for in this amendment is that we need the numbers. not the names. Nor does this amendment cut off any funds for educating illegal aliens. That is not what this amendment is about. I will be proposing an amendment like that separatoly later on. but that is not the point of this amendment. Let me make note of the fact that asking for information does not violate in any way the Supreme Courts Plyer versus Doe decision. That decision deals with providing education. not with asking questions. so there is no prohibition on whether or not we can in some way come to grips with the illegal alien problem. with the numbers of illegal aliens that are in our schools and how much they cost us. Mr. Chairman. this amendment is merely an attempt to quantify these costs. the costs of educating illegal aliens and their children. something that everyone should agree is needed. Let me say this very clearly. Those people who oppose this amendment and say that we should not oven be able to count the number of illegal aliens in our schools should not come back to this body and expect that any money be provided by the Federal Government to finance the education of illegal aliens. if they themselves have refused to provide the data that is necessary to find out how many illegal aliens are needed to be financed. Any small burden that this amendment would require. that it would add in terms of the informational requirements that the schools already face. is just absolutely minimal. it far outweighs the benefits of knowing the information that we have to have. There is a huge unfunded mandate right now. and the number of illegal aliens. especially in the Southwest and California. that is providing a burden to the taxpayers to the point that the level of our schooling or the quality of our schooling is being stretched to the breaking point is such that we cannot permit this to go on and just ignore the Issue. Let us quantify it. find out how much it is costing. and then we can determine what the solution should be.
Keywords matched
illegal aliens illegal alien