Does anyone know if this is true? Just rec's it in an email from a friend.

[napi21]

> This is a subject close to my heart. Do you know
> that we have adult students
> at the school where I teach who are not US citizens
> and who get the PELL
> grant, which is a federal grant (no pay back
> required) plus other federal grants
> to go to school?
>
> One student from the Dominican Republic told me that
> she didn't want me to
> find a job for her after she finished my program,
> because she was getting
> housing from our housing department and she was
> getting PELL grant which paid for
> her total tuition and books, plus money left over.
>
> She was looking into WAIT which gives students a
> CREDIT CARD for gas to come
> to school, and into CARIBE which is a special
> program for immigrants and it
> pays for child care and all sorts of needs while
> they go to school or
> training. The one student I just mentioned told me
> she was not going to be a US
> citizen because she plans to return to the
> Dominican Republic someday and that
> she "loves HER country."
>
> I asked her if she felt guilty taking what the US
> is giving her and then not
> even bothering to become a citizen and she told me
> that it doesn't bother
> her, because that is what the money is there for!
>
> I asked the CARIBE administration about their
> program and if you ARE a US
> citizen, you don't qualify for their program. And
> all the while, I am working a
> full day, my son-in-law works more than 60 hours a
> week, and everyone in my
> family works and pays for our education.
>
> Something is wrong here. Right?
>
> I am sorry but after hearing they want to sing the
> National Anthem in
> Spanish - enough is enough.
& gt;
> Nowhere did they sing it in Italian, Polish, Irish
> (Celtic), German or any
> other language because of immigration. It was
> written by Francis Scott Key and
> should be sung word for word the way it was written
> The news broadcasts even
> gave the translation -- not even close.Sorry if
> this offends anyone but this
> is MY COUNTRY
>
> - IF IT IS YOUR COUNTRY SPEAK UP -- please pass
> this along.
>
> I am not against immigration -- just come through
> like everyone else. Get a
> sponsor; have a place to lay your head; have a job;
> pay your taxes, live by
> the rules AND LEARN THE LANGUAGE as all other
> immigrants have in the past --
> and GOD BLESS AMERICA!
>
> PART OF THE PROBLEM Think about this: If you don't
> want to forward this for
> fear of offending someone -- YOU'RE PART OF THE
> PROBLEM!
>
> It is Time for America to Speak up If you agree --
> pass this along, if you
> don't agree
>
> -- delete it!

[eyesroll]

1. Snopes says it's false.

http://www.snopes.com/politics/immigration/pellgrant.asp

[Warpy]

9. Right, Jingoistic bullshit

"I am sorry but after hearing they want to sing the
> National Anthem in
> Spanish - enough is enough.
& gt;
> Nowhere did they sing it in Italian, Polish, Irish
> (Celtic), German or any
> other language because of immigration. "

The national anthem has been translated into dozens of languages, including Navajo. I've actually heard that one.

I think people like the original author of this shitpile hate hearing other people speak their native language because they're absolutely certain they're being discussed in an unflattering way. Bigots think it's always about them, never that anybody else could possibly be discussing what's for lunch.

[xxqqqzme]

11. Thanx for the link

I should be getting this from my mother any day now. I usually go straight to snopes to let her know she has surrendered her good sense to yet another RW racist hatemail. This time I'm ready....maybe I'll send it to her first. I think she must be on limpballs & o'lielly's email list.

[meegbear]

2. How many "Fwd:Fwd:Fwd;" are there in the subject line ...

the more Fwd:s, the better the chance it must be true.

[jobycom]

3. Any time you find yourself typing the words in your subject line

assume it is not true.

http://www.snopes.com/politics/immigration/pellgrant.asp

[napi21]

7. I'm sorry, but I did check and there IS a program CARIBE

http://www.caribeprogram.com/

AND a WAIT Program

http://www.reinhardt.edu/PSOE/WAIT/WAIT_program.htm

I didn't mean to stir up trouble, but it does sound like some could be abusing priveledges like those along with PELL Grants.

[suffragette]

8. The Snopes link that was posted in reply #1

goes into detail about those programs and WHY the accusations in the email are false.

The programs exist. The accusations in the email are patently bogus.

[jobycom]

10. There are always people abusing any program.

From social assistance to corporate bailouts to no-bid contracts, someone is spending our tax dollars improperly somewhere as we speak.

The implication of the email is that lots of non-Americans are just freeloading off our tax dollars. It's just not true. The programs the email whines about are all limited to legal immigrants or citizens, and there are a lot of hoops legal immigrants have to jump through to maintain status in America. Usually employment is one of those hoops.

I had a close friend from Japan who was here on a student visa. She was forbidden to work, because the mentality of government was that she couldn't take American jobs. Her parents weren't wealthy by any means, so she had very limited funds to eat, room, or whatever. She couldn't get any assistance--her only income came from funds her parents sent her, and possibly a couple of scholarships. When she graduated, she stayed here another three years or so, so she had to get a work visa. Since she wasn't a permanent resident, they would only allow her to stay and work if she could prove she had a unique skill that Americans lacked, so that she wasn't taking American jobs. So she taught Japanese in a public school in San Antonio. When they cancelled Japanese in her school system she had to go home.

The point is, she would have worked if she were allowed to, but wasn't, and once she did, her employment was carefully monitored. Students on visas are restricted, as are all legal immigrants in some way or another. Without permanent residency status, there are few assistance programs at all.

CARIBE, as you saw, is a very small program for political refugees and those seeking asylum from oppressive governments in the Carribean. As you probably know, it's hard to gain that status--you have to prove you would personally be in actual danger if you returned. The amount of assistance is rather low. The link you provide says it helps 7500 people with permanent residency status get training for jobs. In other words, they are already here, legally and maybe permanently, so they are assisted in receiving training to work more productively. That's money well spent.

WAIT is a program to encourage people to become teachers. Teaching is an underpaid profession compared to the cost and difficulty of becoming a teacher, and there is a shortage in parts of the country, so it makes sense to have programs that help people who couldn't afford it to become teachers.

Snopes debunks the email well enough. None of the programs this email mentions are even close to lucrative enough to pay a person enough to stay unemployed in America. Each are limited programs to train permanent residents to be more productive citizens.

Just more racist bigotry from the right. Ever since they lost the war in Iraq, they've been trying to find another enemy. It goes back to Ronald Reagan's proclamation that what unites us is (not common ideals or goals or dreams) common enemies. The conservatives can only imagine being united by hate, and so they spin their lies to create hate.

Fight hate. Fight it.

[Parche]

4. SSB

I am sure there is an english version of the German National Anthem? :sarasm: :sarcasm:
:hi:

These emails are the right wingers trying to incite 'hate' and false patriotism...:hi:

[EstimatedProphet]

5. That's it! Kill all them goddam furriner students!

What a jerk. If the students wanted to stay here, theyse people would gripe about how they're abandoning their country! I wish I could find the assholes that write this shit and shove those words back down their throat.

[aquart]

6. SUCKER! Did you not even attempt to google Snopes?

<http://www.snopes.com/politics/immigration/pellgrant.asp>

Pell Grants

Claim: Non-citizens don't pay taxes but are eligible for federal educational assistance programs not available to U.S. citizens.

Status: False.

Example:


Federal educational grants and loans such as the Pell Grant are available only to U.S. citizens and permanent residents. They are not available to illegal aliens or other non-immigrants who are in the United States legally but temporarily.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

CARIBE (Career Recruitment and Instruction in Basic English), which is funded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, is a program aimed at helping refugees obtain basic fluency in English and enter the U.S. workforce. It is not a college-related program, it is not provided to all immigrants (only refugees), and it is not available to persons who have obtained permanent residency status through other means. WAIT (Why Am I Tempted) training appears to be a program for delivering "key health and youth development messages to middle school and high school students" that has nothing to do with adult or college education or providing credit cards to immigrants.


-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

If this hypothetical Dominican student is a Pell Grant recipient but not a U.S. citizen, then she must be a permanent resident of the United States. That means she and her U.S.-resident family members are required to pay taxes on their worldwide income, and she therefore is not getting a "free ride" by availing herself of taxpayer-funded programs provided to citizens and legal residents.

All foreign-born permanent residents of the United States have the option of returning to live in their countries of origin if they so choose. However, those who do so (other than temporarily) lose U.S. permanent residency status and have to "go to the end of the line" to regain it (and there are no guarantees that it will be granted again).