The Hidden Costs of Educating Illegal Immigrants

Since the start of the year, upwards of 66,000 unaccompanied children from South America and Mexico have flooded the southern border of the United States, nearly double that of the previous year. Rumors of unilateral amnesty by President Obama motivated the unaccompanied children’s to make the long journey to the United States. As the new school year rolls in, at least 50,000 of these minors are expected to enter our public schools.

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How to Talk About Ferguson

In the most recent wave of racially-focused campus activism, many have posed an excellent suggestion: “Let’s talk about Ferguson.” Although I’ve found many of the self-proclaimed ‘Movement’s’ postings to be inflammatory and reductive—though undoubtedly well-intentioned—this one strikes me as particularly valuable, since it really aims to engage our community in a conversation that is absolutely worth having. However, while this might be a good way to begin the conversation, the language of social activism doesn’t provide a useful way to continue the discussion. The kind of pithy, axiomatic language that fits on signs and on the bricks of Martin’s Way is too simple and too myopic to be really effective in launching a serious conversation about prejudice. Therefore, in the hopes of generating a more substantive dialogue, I have compiled a list of suggestions about how to have a productive discussion about the shooting of Michael Brown, or any of the other recent tragic shootings of young black men by white police officers. 

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Affirmative Action and Asians

A favorite strategy of the Democratic Party is to focus on winning over particular ethnic groups. Asian voters, a small percentage of the electorate, do not receive the same kind of attention as other minority voters. However, it is no secret that a majority of Asian Americans support the Democratic Party. This hasn’t always been the case. Voting patterns reveal that the Democrat Party has succeeded in winning the loyalty of a significant majority of Asian Americans over the past two decades. In the 1996 presidential election where Asians made up just one percent of all voters; 44% voted for Bill Clinton and 48% voted for Republican contender Bob Dole. In the most recent presidential election, the number of Asians voting grew to three percent; and 73% voted for Barack Obama and only 26% voted for Mitt Romney. Despite overwhelming support for Democratic candidates, affirmative action policies supported by the left often undermine Asian Americans.

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