Illinois' state Senate recently passed a state version of the DREAM Act; the bill is designed to make it easier for illegal aliens to attend college (and, it's not the same as the national bill; see [1]). One Tea Parties group in that state is opposing it, but for the completely wrong reasons; see below.

First, here are just a few mainstream reasons why the great majority of Illinoisans should oppose the bill:

1. Every college education that an illegal alien gets is one that was taken away from an American citizen. See the main DREAM Act page for a discussion, including a video illustrating that indisputable fact. That fact should be the main thing that the opposition concentrates on, because it's something that should outrage anyone who supports the concept of U.S. citizenship.

2. The bill enables public and private corruption. The bill opens the Illinois College Saving Pool to those who just have ITIN numbers, which are similar to Social Security numbers and which - unlike SSNs - illegal aliens can get. The general use of ITIN numbers is more than a bit shady because many of those who have ITINs and not SSNs are here illegally and are earning money illegally. ITINs make it easier for governments and private companies to tap into that illegally-earned money: the government taking taxes using ITINs, banks offering home loans to those who just have ITINs, and so on. Both the government and private companies have a financial incentive to at least look the other way on illegal immigration. An accessible discussion of how that represents public and private corruption could find wide support.

3. One of the sponsors of the bill is state senator Martin Sandoval, who's more or less an agent of the Mexican government. See his name's link. His divided loyalties should be held against anyone else who supports the bill: force them to either repudiate him or support him, and then publicize what they do.

As for the opposition, the Palatine Tea Party is up in arms about the bill, but only because they think it's a distraction. They refer to the bill as a "non-issue" and to "fluff filled issues" (link, link). Their only concern is money, not with the fact that the bill would let illegal aliens take college educations away from their fellow citizens. Their opposition to the bill even made the Huffington Post (link).

Of course, all three of those sources make the teaparties look "mean-spirited" and beyond, and that's because they aren't opposing the bill in the right way. The Palatine Tea Party has as little interest in the welfare of the great majority of citizens in Illinois as those who voted for the bill. Self-styled patriots who pretend to hold the Constitution dear fall flat on their face when they have a chance to support fundamental concepts like citizenship. They can't even help themselves: taking on the far-left by discrediting legislators using the points above would probably have the side-effect of reducing the spending they care so much about.

Compare the approach of the Palatine Tea Party to that of the Chicago Minuteman Project (link). The CMP makes some of the points above (although they don't highlight the first as much as they should), and they also spend time discussing the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights. Their approach could use some work (and the question authority plan), but - unlike the teaparty group - theirs is fundamentally a mainstream, pro-American position.

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[1] The Illinois version of the DREAM Act is not the same as the national version; see the discussion of state versions at that link. The bill itself is here. The bill is currently in their Rules Committee and apparently there are two or three weeks left to block it.