[quote=carli][quote=Essbee]I’ll add one data point. 20 years ago, during college, I had a friend who had attended Bonita Vista High School in Chula Vista. One day, while hanging out, I met one of his former high school friends. Sure enough, that friend did indeed live in Tijuana (with his entire family) but had crossed the border every day to attend high school in the US. He openly admitted this.
I couldn’t understand how this was “legal”, considering that he wasn’t a U.S. resident. Obviously, it wasn’t legal. Basically, it was the phenomenon that BG has been talking about. I was kind of shocked by it all.[/quote]
I’ll add a counter data point, FWIW.
I spend a couple hours/week in Logan Heights/Barrio Logan, where I’m a court appointed advocate (pro bono) for certain at-risk kids, which I’ve been doing for years. Although I’d love to make my appointments w/these kids and their families on weekends, when it’s more convenient for me, I usually cannot because they’re in Tijuana w/family.
Many of these families have a parent or guardian (usually, it’s the mom, as in my current case) who works here and lives in an apartment w/the kids while they go to the neighborhood school. But on weekends, they all go to TJ to see the other parent, grandparents, cousins, etc. It’s not like it’s a formal arrangement, it’s just that there are usually a bunch of family members living in a (tiny) apartment here, working and going to school, and then there are a bunch of family members also living in TJ. They’re trying to make a living and their kids are along for the ride, going to school in the city where the parent works. Sometimes the dad is around here working but frequently he’s in TJ. This seems to be the way it works w/their neighbors, too. They’re crossing back and forth at least weekly. But they’re all still legal residents of the school area as they have an apartment here.
So that’s just another data point. But unlike BG, I don’t want to extrapolate my personal experience into a broad claim about student residency fraud. For that, I prefer to see actual data. And I’m still waiting for BG to support her claim that 25% of schools, teachers & administrators are unneeded due to this issue.
But I have nothing against (and actually enjoy) anecdotes, personal stories and single data points, and am only troubled when they’re used as substitutes for meaningful data.[/quote]carli, are you stating here that this population of students that you serve is qualified and eligible for the service you provide? Is your service funded through through a county or state agency funded by CA taxpayers?
How are 8-12 people? residing “part-time” in a studio/1 br apt just barely inside the the US (~12 miles) considered “residents” who are ostensibly eligible for taxpayer-funded services, such as those provided by your organization? Are all those people living in the same apt as your “minor-clients” themselves minors (except the lessee)? If not, how many other adults are typically sharing a “tiny” apt with mom and kids?
Aside from the free breakfasts and lunches these daily border crossing students get out of the school districts of border counties (Federal food aid), it seems they may also be “eligible” for a plethora of other aid (even “professional aid” that persons such as yourself render to them) even if the parent they are presumably residing part-time with on this side of the border is undocumented themselves.
When you visit your charges at these “tiny” apts, did you ever notice whether your “clients” actually sleep there … or not? Have you actually seen their bed, where their clothes are hung and where they keep their personal effects?
Or do you usually meet them at a neutral location, such as their school? Inquiring minds want to know how YOU know that your “clients” are … beyond a shadow of a doubt … actually residents of the US.
