drcn eacli. The rate is quite remarkalile, espeeialh wlien wernconsider that Mormon women in Utah hae sHglitK’ fewer thanrnthree children each. Cahfornia’s schools reflect these hirthratcs.rnThe Los Angeles Unified School District (TAUSD),rnwhich was nearl 70 percent white as recenth’ as the carl-rn1970’s, is now 71 percent Lahno and onh 9.9 percent white.rnThe schools of the San Fernando alle’, which are part of thernIAUSD, were know n for their homogenous white eomposihonrnwell into the 197()’s. Most of the alle’ schools were more thanrn90 percent white, and man’ of diein were almost exclusiel’rnwhite, until husing and then illegal immigration hegaii effectingrndramatic changes during the 197(rs. Toda-, the schoolsrnthat were once the bastion of the white middle class are 66 percentrnI .atino and on] 19 percent white.rnMost of the schools in North Hollywood, a porhon of thernea,stcrn San Fernando Vallev, have become more dian SO percentrnLahno, and Fnglish is taught as a second language. Thesernschools receie millions of dollars in federal funding under Titlern1. The schools arc required to spend one to two percent of thernmoney on the .students’ parents, most of whom are illegal aliens.rnThe bulk of the moue’ is used to proide eer- classroom with arnteaching assistant and each school with a truant officer, a counselor,rna nurse, a pschiatrist, and a social worker. Mone alsorngoes to the establishment and operation of a commuuit center.rnParents are offered special courses; the .students, indi idual tutoringrnand a free breakf;ist and lunch.rnAdditional supplementar’ federal monies (wliich, in thisrncase, must be matched by the state) come to the schools fromrndie Bilingual Funding program, amounting to millions of dollars,rnone to two percent of which must be spent on die parents.rnTeachers whose students qualih, under Bilingual Funding reeeirnc an extra $5,000 per ear. Computers and books are alsornsupplied under die program. More moue- is pumped into thernschools through die Structured English hnmersion and LArnBest programs, d’he latter offers “homework enrichment” andrnallows each student up to i2 hours of atter-school tutoring hv arnteacher. The FarK Language Support Academy tutors studentsrnin groups often. Millions here and millions there eeiituall’rnadd up to real mone, and almost all of it goes to students whornare die children of illegal aliens or illegal aliens diemsehes.rnDespite generous funding and all of the special programs, studentrnperformance is dismal, widi most of ttiem scoring far belowrngrade le’el on arioiis standardized tests.rnThat man- of our public schools are esseutialK attemphngrnto educate the children of Mexico, and to a lesser degreernCentral America, should be evident to cer- California citizen.rn’I he Mexican goxernment recognized diis in the earU 1990’srnand began donating textbooks Iw the thousands to Californiarnschool districts. The textbooks are written in Spanish and arerndeoted to Mexican history and culture. Students can learn allrnabout the Mexican national coat of arms, the Mexican nationalrnanthem, and die Mexican Da- of the Dead celebration, butrnnodiing about their .merican counterparts. The Mexican go-rnernment has been so elated b’ die results of the program that itrnis now sending textbooks to school districts outside of C^aliioniiarnthat hae large I,ahiio populahons.rn’File problem of illegal-alien students extends beond California’srnpriiiiar and secoiidar schools into college. Illegalrnaliens are not prohibited from attending California’s publicrnuniyersities, but—if the- liae been honest when filling outrndieir college applications—die’ hae to pa’ out-of-state tuition.rnas do odier foreign students and students from America’s odierrn49 states. For seeral years, advocates for illegal aliens havernbeen demanding that “undocumented immigrants” pay onlyrndie legal resident tuition fee. hi 2000, a bill to that effect, supportedrnb most Democrats and nearly all Lahno legislators, wasrnappro cd b- the state legislature but vetoed b Co’. Gra Da is,rnwho cited conflicts with lederal huv. Touring California lastrnMarch, Mexican President Vicente Fox urged diat die issue bernrexisitcd. A new bill eurrendy sits in the legislature, ff the billrnbecomes law this finie around, illegal aliens will pay a fractionrnof the tuition paid by an American citizen from another state.rn”You sa our faniih hac been tax-paing American citizensrnfor i’wc generations and xou won two purple hearts and are 20rnpercent disabled? Tough break, pal; xoure from Iowa, notrnMexico!”rnThe eontrovers’ may soon become moot. With die wholeheartedrnsupport of most Latino legislators, a bill has been introducedrninto die state legislature to grant California drier’s licensesrnto illegal aliens. With a California drier’s license, arnCalifornia high-school diploma, and a Social Securit’ cardrn(easily obtained illegally), no university would question arnprospeetie student’s residency status.rnIllegal immigration has also taxed the criminal-justice ,s’stcmrnto the limit in several counties. In 1999, San Diego Counh expendedrnS50 million on law enforcement and cmergencv medicalrncare for illegal immigraiits. Next door, lightly populatedrnImperial County, with a fraction of San Diego’s tax base, spentrnsix million dollars. Imperial Counh- superisors fear diat thernburden iiia push the counh” into baiikrupte. In Los AngelesrnCouut-, illegal aliens comniita wildly disproportionate amountrnof crime, costing the counh’ tens of millions of dollars. LastrnApril, die Daily News published a rogue’s gallery of die 20 mostwantedrncriminal suspects in Los Angeles. One was black, hvornwere Armenians, and 17 were Latinos. An aecompaming articlernpro ided a description and vital information for each su,spect.rnThat for Alvaro Beltraui Merino was hpieal for the Latinos:rn”l)lack hair, brown ces. . . wanted for suspicion of murderrn. . . iiia- liae fled to Mexico.”rnWin do we, or die powers that be, allow all of ttiis to occur?rnBecause powerful interests are benefiting from it. Those whorneiiiplo illegal aliens get cheap labor. ‘The labor, however, isrncheap ouK to die emplovers. The rest of us are paying for it.rnWhen illegal aliens gie birth, their instant eitizen-ehildrenrnmake diem eligible for .AFf^C, food stamps, subsidized housing,rnand transportation ouchers. The birth of the childrenrncosts die illegal aliens nothing, and schooling is free. ThernL’USD, for example, spends nearly SI 1,000 per child. A faniih-rnwidi four ehildren thus costs die district almo.st $44,000 perrnyear. A day laborer, farm worker, domestic, or minimum-wagernfacton eniplovee does not pay enough taxes to cover more thanrna fraction of die schooling costs alone. Now. add costs for medicalrncare, law- enforcement, and the criminaTjusfiee s-steiii.rnThe greatest cost of all, though, cannot be calculated in dollars:rndie loss of our nafional soxcreignh’, cultural heritage, and identihrnas a people.rnFor ears, most people outside of the once-Colden Staternlooked upon illegal aliens and the Hispanicization of socieh asrnCalifornia’s problem. Warnings from Californians fell uponrndeaf ears. Now die problem has come to odier states. Meaiiwhile,rnback at the Wdiite I louse. President Bush celebrates Cincnrnde Mam and broadcasts his weekK address to the nation inrnbodi English and Spanish. “^rn24/CHRONICLESrnrnrn