John Curley


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Sixty percent of Americans oppose funding to educate illegal immigrants. (AP file photo)

John Curley supports idea to fund education of illegal immigrants

BY Josh Kerns  on August 24, 2012 @ 8:06 am (Updated: 11:17 am - 10/3/12 )

A newly released survey finds 40% of Americans have no problem educating children of illegal immigrants. KIRO's John Curley is one of them.

"Would you rather have an illegal immigrant come to this country, have a kid in this country and then not have the kid get educated? I mean, how does that help anybody, that's just silly."

The poll by the public education advocacy group Phi Delta Kappa International (PDK) shows that four in 10 Americans now favor "providing free public education, school lunches and other benefits" to children whose parents are in the USA illegally.

But Curley points out a vast majority still oppose the benefits and he calls that misguided. The number of illegal immigrants coming into our country continues to decline, in large part because of a lack of jobs and other economic opportunities.

"Most of what I see, anybody that's coming to this country is not coming for the free stuff but to work," Curley says.

He points to the regular gathering of day laborers outside his neighborhood Home Depot.

"I'm going to guess a lot of them are illegal because if they weren't illegal, they'd have a social security number and be able to pick up work somewhere else."

Curley, a Republican Sammamish City Councilmember, is in the minority within his own party. The survey finds just 21% of Republicans favored funding for illegal students. In contrast, 65% of Democrats favor such funding.

Meantime, a small private liberal arts college in western Massachusetts has announced the establishment of a scholarship fund dedicated to helping illegal immigrants get degrees.

The scholarship will provide more than $25,000 each year to help an illegal immigrant pay for the $43,000-plus tuition at Hampshire College in Amherst. At current funding levels, the endowment will help support one student's studies at the college every four years, said college spokeswoman Elaine Thomas.

Curley supports the move, especially since it doesn't involve public funding.

Hampshire alumni, graduating students, parents and other donors have given more than $300,000 since the spring to fund the scholarship and an endowment to sustain it.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Josh Kerns, MyNorthwest.com Reporter
Josh Kerns is co-host of KIRO Radio's Seattle Sounds (Saturday nights 7-8) and a digital content producer for MyNorthwest.com.
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Comments (27)


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  • imanegro wrote...
    Public opinion
    August 24, 2012 11:00 am
    So John, we need to start governing based on public opinion instead of what is legal? This is not an overly complicated issue- what part of 'illegal immigrants' is not clear?
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  • happy happy joy joy wrote...
    ?
    August 24, 2012 11:30 am
    So instead of focusing on the 60% of Americans that do NOT support this, we instead focus on the 40% that do? How informed on this topic are the 40%? That would be my question.
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  • ConservativeThinker wrote...
    Illegal Immigrant
    August 24, 2012 12:58 pm
    Wrong term... My wife is an immigrant... Illegal alien is more like like.. People hate the term, but that is what they are... My wife and I have spent almost 6000.00 dollars to do the right thing. She does not get the benefits that illegal aliens have, because she is in the system. I am all for a guest worker program that recognizes the rights of migrant workers and those here working. I could see the state of Washington, Oregon and California starting a guest worker program that helps migrant workers and others - shed the illegal alien title. I think the states should do something to recognize their contributions... I do not believe that illegal aliens should be given a dime in benefit. Just my thoughts...
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  • Bucket Dad wrote...
    And the funding comes from where?
    August 24, 2012 11:39 am
    As a moderate Republican, I can see the point in that side of the argument. The question in today's fiscal environment would be: educating the illegals at the expense of what? The pile of dollars are finite. I, as many other parents, are trying to figure out how to pay for my high school child's volleyball and tennis team participation, or hearing about music and arts being cut, or severe classroom crowding because we have to lay off teachers. In this state, where the courts have already ruled that education has not been sufficiently funded, where should the cuts come from. I for one, am part of the 60% that say, cut it from the people who deserves it least.
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  • LaZY wrote...
    What is the harm?
    August 24, 2012 12:00 pm
    Mr. John Curley supports the idea of funding education to illegal immigrants because, what is the harm of educating the children of these people who couldn't follow the rules? Why bother driving with a license, paying taxes, or even filing through the border legally? These issues aside, what is the harm? What with Equal Opportunity / Affirmative Action, how would this minority that can't follow the rules edge out someone who is now "less deserving" simply because of their legal majority status? The cost is great to this great nation of our own children who need every opportunity themselves to better themselves, and better our country. We have problems, as do all countries. We are not perfect - but we are hands down the best and continue to be so if we invest in OURSELVES.
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  • imanegro wrote...
    LaZY
    August 24, 2012 12:04 pm
    The harm is rewarding illegal behavior. When that happens, you get more of it.
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  • imoutwest wrote...
    Education for everyone...
    August 24, 2012 12:21 pm
    Sounds like a really fair and reasonable discussion. For me, it comes down to who’s paying for that education. Usage tax perhaps, but not really. If it is illegal for them to be in America, then all other act are illegal as well. Why is this an issue? All this truly accomplishes is creating more dependency (“entitlement”) on an already overwhelmed process.
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  • Citizen of Krazy Town wrote...
    Stupid people are stupid. We don't need more of them
    August 24, 2012 12:52 pm
    A parent who feels like they have to hide from the law, teaches their children to disregard the law. So, the dissenters are arguing that we shouldn't counter that reality with education? We cannot counter unlawful residency with fostering an underground race of stupid people!
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  • 2shbag wrote...
    40%
    August 24, 2012 1:01 pm
    What percentage of the 40% are legal citizens? Where was the study taken? Yakima, New Mexico, Texas, Bakersfield? Study This Curley!
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  • Realitycheck wrote...
    Curley??? Really?
    August 24, 2012 1:24 pm
    From what I heard from you so far gave me the impression you are a smarter person than to suggest this. Not one dime of tax payer money should be spent on this but rather focus on deporting and securing our border. Or set up a guest worker system where they pay their taxes and their kids can be part of the education system. Anybody with half a brain should know that all the freebies we handing out left and right (and not just illegals) is exactly the reason we are in trillion of dollars in debt. As a country our first responsibility is to reward the working, legal citizens and many of those "good" people are suffering because of the poor economy and gross overspending by governments on people that don't deserve a dime.
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  • tlmbrt wrote...
    NO WAY
    August 24, 2012 9:36 pm
    All illegals should be KICKED out. Not a single dime should be spent toward food, education, clothing or health care. NO JOBS. NO HOUSING. NOTHING! They can either go home, be thrown out or die in the gutter.
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  • tlmbrt wrote...
    HEY CURLEY!
    August 24, 2012 9:41 pm
    Don't you believe in the LAW? Are you suggesting we just throw our hands up and let these people invade our country while we smile and support them? LEGAL immigrants don't get this. What message does that send? This undermines people that follow the rules. You are dead wrong on this!
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  • SickofSeattleite wrote...
    except now my childrens class size is 32 instead of 24
    August 25, 2012 6:13 am
    and now everything has to be printed in Spanish....and now my kid can't learn because their kids are still learning English. It's my tax dollars educating their children while my children sit in class not being challenged. Considering how much debt America is in it would be STUPID to support spending money on people who are here ILLEGALLY! If you support them they will keep coming and depleting resources that were meant for our children.
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  • messiah101 wrote...
    Why Not change the way education is payed for?
    August 25, 2012 7:21 am
    People with children pay to educate their children after all why should people with no kids pay to educate yours?That way you Rightys will get what you want lower taxes,and unless the illegals can foot the bill no education dollars will be spent on their children.Where does it say in the Constitution that I am required to pay for the education of your children?
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  • ron prevost wrote...
    Careful, messiah, you better check with the NEA first.
    August 26, 2012 6:04 am
    What You argue (unless it's tongue-in-cheek) is what 'conservatives' used to say about public education. And it still comes up most any time people oppose a school levy. .. Next think you know, you'll be supporting charter schools.

    You wouldn't want to loose you progressive membership card, now would you ?

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