lIlegal immigrants in New York will be able to apply for 53 professional licenses that include teaching, medicine, dentistry, and engineering under a controversial policy approved by the state Board of Regents.

The NYS Board of Regents is basing this so-called "policy change" on an illegal executive order (known as DACA) issued by President Obama in 2012 which exempts certain illegal immigrants from deportation.

“These are young people who came to the US as children,” said state Education Commissioner MaryEllen Elia, of the illegal immigrants that the Obama administration refers to as "dreamers."  Mrs. Elia is using the narrative of poor little children and dreamers to make us feel sorry for them.

However, Elia's claim is patently FALSE for many DACA applicants.  One of the requirements of DACA is that the applicant enters the US before his 16th birthday.  We can therefore all agree that under DACA a 15 year old (hardly a child) can come here and attend high school and then go on to apply to college and this illegal immigrant will be given grants and scholarships to the SUNYs that Mrs. Elia heads; scholarships that would have gone to legal immigrants and citizens.  WHY????

That is what is at stake here folks. 

So, first, a teenager applicant is not a "child."  Second, and more importantly, the age here is immaterial because we are essentially telling illegal immigrants that our laws don't matter because there are no consequences for breaking them.  That is why we have seen the rise of illegal immigrants who are children who are coming here across the border and are being abused.  THIS HAS TO STOP.  We have to create a lack of incentives for breaking our immigration laws.

Under the new policy, any illegal immigrant covered under DACA can apply for a license to dispense opiates and other dangerous drugs, among other things.

Allowing lawbreakers to teach, or practice medicine, says a lot about how backwards our priorities truly are in New York. This is another example of why rule-making by un-elected bureaucrats is what is ruining New York state.

WE SHOULD NOT INCENTIVIZE BREAKING THE LAW & the Board of Regents has overstepped its bounds in pushing for a change based on an unconstitutional presidential executive order.

New York's 750,000 illegal immigrants cost NYS billions of taxpayer dollars every year. Tax payers in New York pay approximately $5.1 billion per year to support immigrants who are illegally residing in their state, according to the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR).

STAND UP AND TELL THE BOARD OF REGENTS THAT NYers DO NOT WANT TO ENCOURAGE ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION.  WE ARE THE ONES PAYING, SO SEND A CLEAR MESSAGE: PLEASE BOARD OF REGENTS STAY OUT OF POLITICS.