Letters

The quick, well-publicized actions of New Jersey volunteer emergency medical technician (EMT) Sean Baran during the July 7 terrorist bombings in London are a terrific illustration of the value of our state’s volunteer emergency medical services (EMS).

Although Sean’s training and experience as a member of a volunteer EMS organization have served his New Jersey community well, they also prepared him to respond effectively during emergency situations anywhere. His skills, invaluable to the victims he assisted in London, will prove useful to him and those around him throughout his life. The fact that Sean obtained those skills in New Jersey speaks volumes about the quality of our state’s volunteer EMS corps.

The nonprofit New Jersey State First Aid Council, which celebrated its 75th anniversary last year, represents more than 20,000 EMS volunteers affiliated with hundreds of first aid and rescue squads throughout the state. Each year, New Jersey’s established, reliable volunteer EMS base responds to hundreds of thousands of calls for assistance all over the state, saving taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars. That same corps of volunteers demonstrated its critical importance during and following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in New York City.

Sean is representative of the thousands of EMS volunteers in New Jersey who step in and help whenever, wherever they are needed. With volunteer rolls ever shrinking, the council regularly steps up recruitment and retention efforts to expand that base.

On the council’s behalf, I ask New Jersey’s residents to consider undertaking EMT training and then volunteering their services in their communities.

The skills they’ll acquire, as well as the rewarding feeling that accompanies helping someone in need, are just two of the many guaranteed lifetime benefits.

Frederick L. Steinkopf

president

New Jersey State

First Aid Council

Immigrant students need low-cost, in-state tuition

A few hundred college-bound students in New Jersey have been waiting for more than two years to get a bill passed in Trenton. The in-state tuition bill, when passed, would help these children of immigrants receive an affordable college education and avoid the exorbitant, “out-of-state” fees imposed on them.

This is not a unique situation in New Jersey. Since 2001, nine states have passed laws permitting certain undocumented students who have attended and graduated from their high schools to pay the same tuition as their classmates at public colleges. These states are Texas, California, Utah, Washington, New York, Oklahoma, Illinois, Kansas and New Mexico. It is only reasonable to expect that as the fifth-largest immigrant-population state, New Jersey follow their footsteps and enact the long-pending bill into law.

These Garden State immigrant students — much fewer in number than their counterparts in Texas, California or New York, deserve the in-state tuition fees for a number of reasons.

One, these children have been here for many years and they look, speak, think and act just like any other American kid. Most of them went to primary, middle or high schools just like any other Jersey boys and girls. This is their home: New Jersey’s “mainstream” American students have been their friends all these years with whom they sat in class, played baseball and soccer, and went to the mall.

Two, unlike out-of-state “mainstream” students, these kids and their undocumented immigrant parents have always supported New Jersey’s colleges and universities with sales, property and income taxes. They have contributed to our state and national economy, too. The New York Times reported that “The estimated 7 million or so illegal immigrant workers in the United States are now providing the system with a subsidy of as much as $7 billion a year.” This is because the immigrant parents’ employers are always withholding money from their paychecks — money the workers would never see — whether they labor in farms, construction sites, departmental stores or restaurants.

Three, the “mainstream” out-of-state students could choose to pay less for college and attend schools in their home states, but they consciously decided to pay three or four times as much. These immigrant students do not have any such luxury or option. They know their admission into the state’s public institutions is not a free ride; they’d have to work hard to get in on a competitive basis.

They also know they don’t qualify for any federal or state loans or grants.

In spite of all the obstacles, they want to go to college and get a degree.

Four, future social and economic benefits brought in by a generation of educated immigrant youth will far exceed the present education expenditure. On the other hand, an uneducated generation of young people with a broken dream would be driven back into poverty, despair, loss of health, or even underground activities, costing us huge economic and political consequences.

Don’t go too far; ask any city mayor what happens next.

We all know college education is expensive, and common American citizens have reasons to be frustrated. We need to ask, however, is it the fault of the undocumented immigrants and their college-age children that America can’t keep its education tabs down? In other market-driven countries such as the United Kingdom or Australia, governments have taken long-term, pragmatic measures to prevent higher education costs to spiral out of control. We haven’t.

Let’s be honest: it is those misplaced priorities that are responsible for our frustrations.

Unfortunately, anti-immigrant organizations and individuals are not shy to exploit these misgivings. Especially since the tragedies of Sept. 11, in a whipped-up, pervasive, anti-immigrant climate, it’s been easy to scapegoat and penalize hard-working immigrants and their aspiring children who have nothing to do with terrorism. The addition of a few hundred resident students to our public colleges is not going to crash our markets. It’s simple math anyone is able to learn and understand.

The anti-immigrant rhetoric that attempts to rob the immigrant children of their dream of a college education is politically motivated. We should not be fooled by it.

New Jersey’s lawmakers — traditionally known for their pro-people, equal-opportunity affirmative-action stance — should come forward and pass the in-state tuition bill on fast track.

This state should set its records straight: it must side with its American children of immigrant parents. We must give these innocent children a chance to succeed. In a country that has championed its progresses on human rights, civil rights and liberties, we can’t afford to turn back on our history and create a new era of bigotry and discrimination.

Dr. Partha Banerjee

executive director

New Jersey Immigration

Policy Network

Newark