Roswell Daily Record
Vol. 123, No. 29 75¢ Daily / $1.25 Sunday
THE VOICE OF THE PECOS VALLEY
February 2, 2014
www.rdrnews.com
SUNDAY
More states grant in-state tuition to immigrants
WASHINGTON (AP) — Giancarlo Tello paid $14,000 more than other New Jersey high school graduates to attend Rutgers University, the state’s flagship public college. Why the difference? Tello spent much of his childhood in the U.S. without legal permission after his parents moved from Peru when he was 6. That changes if he reenrolls this fall, as he plans, thanks to a law recently signed by New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie that provides in-state tuition to immigrants like him. Supporters of immigrants’ rights are energized
because after years of contentious fights, New Jersey and three other states passed statutes last year that will allow such students who came to the U.S. when they were minors to pay in-state tuition.
Fifteen states now have such a statute, said Ann Morse of the National Conference of State Legislatures. In addition, university boards in Hawaii, Michigan and Rhode Island have granted these students instate tuition. To qualify, high school graduates typically must meet requirements such as living in a state for a set number of years.
Florida, Indiana, Massachusetts, Missouri, Mississippi, New Hampshire and Virginia have bills under consideration that would extend the in-state benefit, said Tanya Broder, a senior attorney with the National Immigration Law Center. Supporters next plan to step up lobbying on a related issue: making these students eligible for state financial aid, including scholarships or grants. Already, California, New Mexico and Texas have laws spelling out this right, and it is under consideration in states such as Washington. Sen. Patty Murray, D-
They’ve got it!
Wash., and Rep. Jared Polis, D-Colo., filed a bill in Congress that would provide money to states that of fer in-state tuition or financial aid to these students. “It’s an economic issue, and it’s an issue of fairness,” Murray said. In this time of financial austerity, the bill faces a difficult road. The students are known as “Dreamers” — from the shorthand for legislation stymied in Congress that provides a way for them to permanently remain in the U.S. The measure’s full title See TUITION, Page A2
Mark Wilson Photo
Fifth-graders at Pecos Elementary rehearse with the National Dance Institute of New Mexico's Statewide Residency Outreach Program for the upcoming performance of “Eureka!,” which will be held at Pueblo Auditorium next Friday at 7 p.m.
AP Photo
Yves Gomes, a student at the University of Maryland, who's parents were deported, right, talks to his great uncle Henry Gomes, in his great uncle's house where he lives, in Silver Spring, Md., Friday Jan. 17.
NM expects fewer sign-ups for health exchange enrollment
SANTA FE (AP) — New Mexico’s state-run health insurance exchange has sharply reduced its enrollment expectations for this year by about half. Mike Nunez, interim chief executive officer of the New Mexico Health Insurance Exchange, says problems with the federal healthcare.gov website slowed the state’s efforts to promote enrollment. The state had expected up to 83,000 people to register this year, according to a 2011 study cited in an application for a grant under the Affordable Care Act. The Santa Fe New Mexican reports Nunez now estimates only between 40,000 and 50,000 will enroll. The exchange announced Thursday it was awarded a
$69.4 million grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The state had applied for $81 million. The lesser amount was due to federal spending cuts and lower than expected costs for integrating infor mation technology systems for the state health exchange, Nunez said.
The first open-enrollment period for individual policies ends March 31. Smallbusiness enrollment will be open for the remainder of the year. The state health exchange had little turnout in November with only 934 consumers registering. But about 7,688 enrolled by Dec. 28. New Mexicans ages 35 to 64 represented about 74 percent of enrollment.
Deadline nears for Keystone XL foes undaunted by report Gila River decision SANTA FE (AP) — Should the state’s last free-flowing river be allowed to keep running free, or should it be managed as a new supply of water for parts of southwestern New Mexico? New Mexico has rights to some of the Gila River and one of its tributaries under a 2004 settlement with Arizona. The deadline for deciding what to do with the water is at the end of the year. If New Mexico doesn’t use the water, it will keep flowing into Arizona and the state will forgo millions of dollars in federal funds available for construction of a diversion project.
Environmentalists and sportsmen contend any dams or diversions would har m the area’s wildlife and limit opportunities for recreation. But far mers throughout the region say the Gila would offer a backup source of water as dry conditions persist.
Estevan Lopez, director of the New Mexico Interstate Stream Commission, acknowledges that reaching any kind of consensus among the stakeholders has proven to be an elusive task. However, he thinks conserving the river and diverting it aren’t mutually exclusive.
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — With yet another obstacle removed for the Keystone XL pipeline, opponents were pressing forward with a lawsuit to challenge the project, public protests and an effort to inject the issue into the November elections. Supporters and opponents both were quick to claim victories with the U.S. State Department report released Friday, which raised no major objections to the pipeline. The oil industry, some union groups and congressional Republicans called on the Obama administration to move forward with the project, while a coalition of landowners and environmentalists say
there is still cause for denying a federal permit. The project would ship 830,000 barrels of oil a day from Canada to Texas Gulf Coast refineries. Meanwhile, farmers and ranchers in Nebraska who oppose the pipeline are planning to run for seats on a state board that regulates power stations that are needed along the project route. And national activists say they have recruited more than 75,000 volunteers willing to participate in civil disobedience, should President Barack Obama approve the Keystone project. The project now goes to a 30-day comment period and a review by U.S. Sec-
retary of State John Kerry and other agencies. Obama has 90 days to make the decision on the pipeline, but the White House on Friday disputed the notion that the report is headed to a fast approval. Oil began flowing last week through an Oklahoma-to-Texas section already approved by Obama. “There’s no question, if the president approves this per mit, that there will be civil disobedience,” said Jane Kleeb, executive director of the group Bold Nebraska, which has helped organize opposition in the state. “We’ve said from the beginning that we will support the landowners and what
Jurecek’s long journey from Japan to Roswell TESS TOWNSEND RECORD STAFF WRITER
The parents of Roswell resident Mike Jurecek had to go through a special process to bring home their baby boy in 1952. The couple had to get a bill passed by United States Congress to make Jurecek (pronounced jereck) their own. Jurecek was adopted by his parents while his father, a master sergeant in the Air Force, was sta-
tioned in Japan. Baby Jurecek was found by police at a train station in Ueno, Japan, on June 23, 1950. Police estimated the abandoned young boy was about 2 months old when he was discovered. Not knowing the exact date the boy was bor n, what Jurecek refers to as the Japanese equivalent of the Children, Youth and Families Department assigned him a birth date: April 23, 1950. It also assigned him a
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name: Minoru Nakajima. Jurecek spent about a year in an orphanage before his adoptive parents, who believed themselves to be infertile, found him. The family contacted former U.S. Rep. Antonio M. Fernandez of New Mexico and asked him to sponsor a bill allowing them to adopt their son. At the time, intercountry adoptions required approval by Congress. Jurecek knows the bill
• CRUZ LUEVANO • KENNETH CARL CASE • JULIO CARREON • CHARLDEAN TALNACK
number: HR 5297. He knows when it was passed: During the second session of the 82nd Congress. And he knows that he’s glad things worked out. “I had some of the best parents a person could ask for. They really cared
for me, loved me a lot,” he said of his now deceased adoptive parents. The rest is history — kind of. Growing up a military brat, Jurecek has lived throughout New Mexico
See JURECEK, Page A2
TODAY’S OBITUARIES PAGE A7 • JONATHAN B. CARREON • JACK L. BEESON VENEGAS • HELEN JOY PADILLA • MARGARET BROWN • OFELIA A. CARRILLO • PETE KUNKEL
they want to do and what they think is best for their pr operty. I think you’ll see some landowners driving really slow on their county r oads to block the (pipeline) trucks.”
Project backers said the report — the latest in a five-year review by state and federal agencies — bolsters their case for the pipeline and eliminates the need for further delays.
The Keystone XL is “not about energy versus the environment. It’s about where Americans want to get their oil,” said Russ Girling, CEO of pipeline developer TransCanada.
Jurecek
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