Dole: No Public Schooling For Children Of Illegals

LOS ANGELES (AllPolitics, June 19) -- Bob Dole, wrapping up a campaign swing through vote-rich California, said he supports tough action against undocumented workers, including allowing states to deny public education to their children (320K WAV sound).

"Each illegal entry into this country is an affront, not just to the laws of the United States, but to every immigrant, every immigrant who did the right thing, played by the rules and came to this country legally," Dole said.

It's a volatile issue in California, where voters overwhelmingly approved a ballot measure to deny social services to illegals two years ago, only to see the courts block it as unconstitutional (224K WAV sound).

"We ought to be able to control the borders," said the likely Republican nominee, "and we shouldn't stick the states with billions and billions of dollars of extra expenses, particularly in a state as large as California.

"Because each year, an additional 300,000 individuals are in our country illegally -- not legally, illegally -- and about half of them come to California," Dole said.

Dole said California spends $1.8 billion a year teaching the children of illegals, and he accused President Bill Clinton of talking tough about illegal immigration, but not following it up.

Dole got some sobering news during his trip: a new Field Poll that suggests he has failed so far to make a dent in Clinton's sizable lead in the Golden State, despite his recent campaigning there.

In a head-to-head matchup, Clinton enjoys a 57-34 percent lead over his Republican rival, according to the survey. Dole, however, dismissed the poll as inaccurate and suggested the president's lead is no more than 10 points. "I think we are gaining," he told Bakerfield's KBAK.

In a hypothetical four-way race, with Texas billionaire Ross Perot and Green Party candidate Ralph Nader also on the ballot, Clinton still comes out on top, with 44 percent of the vote to Dole's 29 percent. Perot was at 13 percent and Nader at 8 percent.

The numbers have to disappoint Dole, who has enjoyed a nationwide bounce since he stepped down from the Senate. The California survey, conducted between June 10 and 16, interviewed 719 registered voters and has a margin of sampling error of +/- 4 percentage points.

Dole: No Public Schooling For Children Of Illegals

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