Moak Support for DREAM Act Amnesty a Nightmare for Arizona

Arizona 3rd District Congressional candidate Steve Moak has found one issue that distinguishes him from the rest of the field in the Arizona’s 3rd Congressional District GOP primary.  In fact, Moak’s support for the massive amnesty awarded to illegal aliens under the DREAM ACT pretty much distinguishes him from most Republicans across the entire country.

The legislation Moak supports would be the largest and most open-ended grant of amnesty to illegal immigrants in recent history.  In a June 23, 2010 panel interview before the Arizona Republic, Moak participated with half of the 3rd District GOP field and was the only candidate on his panel who stood firmly in support of the DREAM (otherwise known as the Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors) Act.  If Moak is able to win the GOP primary, you can be sure that the recorded position with the Arizona Republic will be used against him by his well-funded Democratic opponent.

According to the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, the legislation Moak supports would “create another type of amnesty by opening a wide path to citizenship for any illegal alien who has entered the country before the age of 16, has been in the country for at least five years, and has earned a high school diploma or GED in the United States.” While Moak indicated unhesitating support for the DREAM Act when asked directly by the Arizona Republic writer, others have been highly critical of its impact.  Congressman Lamar Smith (R-Texas) said “The DREAM Act represents a dual assault on law-abiding, taxpaying American citizens and legal immigrants.”

Others have routinely criticized the idea of providing a simple path to legal status for millions of illegal immigrants across America as unfair to those who follow the law.  Critics believe it encourages others to illegally cross the border with the recognition that the prize at the end includes legal status in America for their children.

The heavy financial and human cost of illegal immigration is obviously very familiar to those of us across Arizona.  State and local budgets, health care costs and education costs are being unfairly borne by legal Arizona residents often forced to foot the bill to provide for illegal immigrants.  Moak is apparently unmoved by such costs.  According to the Heritage Foundation, the legislation that Moak supports would increase that burden because it would allow in-state tuition for illegal aliens and actually repeal a 1996 federal law that prohibits any state from offering in-state tuition rates to illegal aliens unless the state offers in-state tuition rates to all U.S. citizens.

If Moak has his way and the DREAM Act is enacted into law, you could very well see federal law providing an opportunity for the State of California to provide in-state tuition to a previously illegal alien to attend a state university, while a legal Arizona resident who has obeyed the law would pay drastically higher tuition rate.  Additionally, if Arizona public universities were to provide in-state tuition to previously illegal aliens, they would forgo full tuition paid by legal Americans who matriculate from out-of-state.  Under the legislation Moak supports, it would be Arizona taxpayers left footing the bill.

The 1996 law that prohibited states from favoring illegal immigrants over legal American citizens was passed in response to efforts by open-border advocates to push for providing in-state tuition to illegal immigrants in states like California.  If the legislation Moak is supporting were to become law, the prohibitions would be repealed and open-border advocates would achieve their dream of in-state tuition being provided to illegal immigrants as part of the amnesty program.

The new immigration policy Moak supports would implement a massive federal amnesty program that would be ripe for fraud and abuse.  According to a Heritage Foundation analysis of the legislation, all amnesty recipients are awarded lawful permanent residence (green card) status.  Millions of illegal aliens across Arizona and the country would receive this status and be provided six years to receive a degree from any institution of higher education, work two years toward a bachelor’s degree, or simply demonstrate that meeting those requirements would prove a hardship to him or his family.

It will be interesting to see if Moak’s pro-amnesty stance plays in an environment where a huge majority of Arizonans are supporting Arizona in their battle with the federal government and co-sponsors of Arizona’s new law are running against Moak. Moak’s campaign has been spending a lot of money touting his support for securing the Arizona border.  Securing the border is a position shared by all of Moak’s opponents. As one 3rd District observer commented “Let’s be honest, it’s not particularly bold of Moak to support securing the border.  Even Hillary Clinton agrees with him on that one.”