Opinion: In today’s pages
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The editorial board wants to withhold Cal Grants from undocumented immigrants:
As it is, many eligible students who qualify for state financial aid don’t get it. Cal-Grant Competitive Awards — the primary source of financial aid for community college students — went to just 17% of eligible applicants last year. That left 112,000 students who went unaided. Reserving state financial aid for legal residents doesn’t mean undocumented immigrants cannot go to college. There are private resources available that did not exist a generation ago. Banks offer loans, credit cards, mortgages and other products to illegal immigrants. And there are scholarships too.
The board also urges the City Council to vote for a rent stabilization measure to close a legal loophole, and points out why not every law enforcement misstep deserves its day in court.
On the op-ed pages, author John N. Maclean explains why Southern California fires are only going to get worse. Dan Schnur, a veteran of Sen. John McCain’s (R-Ariz.) 2000 presidential campaign, explains why New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson was right to announce his desire to be the first Latino president in Los Angeles. And columnist Jonah Goldberg argues that if former Atty. Gen. John Ashcroft can be redeemed, so can anyone.
On the letters page, Pacific Palisades’ Cynthia Cuza responds to the Bush administration feeling pressure to remove Iraqi political leadership: ‘This is bringing democracy to Iraq?’