State OKs tuition break for illegal immigrants

State OKs tuition break for illegal immigrants
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Category: Life

State OKs tuition break for illegal immigrants
Mar 28, 2007 3:00 AM (11 hrs ago)
by Len Lazarick, The Examiner

http://www.examiner.com/a-642988~State_OKs_tuition_break_for_illegal_immigrants.html

Annapolis (Map, News) - After intense debate Monday night, the Maryland House of Delegates agreed to let undocumented immigrants who have attended high school in Maryland pay in-state tuition at public colleges and university.

The measure (HB 6) passed 81-57, with 20 Democrats from more conservative districts joining all 37 Republicans to oppose the bill.

"We are aiding and abetting and violating federal law by people who are in this state illegally," said Del. Patrick McDonough, R-Baltimore-Harford. "We are a sanctuary state," he said, for illegal immigrants, with their numbers going up from 75,000 to 300,000 in just five years, according to one study.

"The vast majority did not decide to come here," but were brought by their parents, said House Majority Leader Kumar Barve, D-Montgomery. These graduates are "just the kind of people we want here. These are decent, hardworking people."

House Republican Leader Anthony O'Donnell, Calvert, complained that it would be possible for some of the students to leave the state after high school and then return to apply for university as residents. "Americans can't do that," O'Donnell said.

Opponents worried that illegal immigrants would be taking spots intended for legal residents. The immigrants must apply for permanent U.S. residency 30 days after they apply for university admission.

Del. Nancy King, D-Montgomery, whose Ways and Means subcommittee approved the bill, estimated that only 200 students per year will qualify and that they would cost far less than the $3 MILLION DOLLARS McDonough estimated, since most could only afford to attend community colleges.

"I think we're talking about a lot more money than that," McDonough said.

The debate became emotional on both sides. Del. Melvin Stukes, D-Baltimore City, said the lawmakers voting against the tuition break had "the mind-set" of the framers of the U.S. Constitution who counted slaves as three-fifths of a person. Some of his colleagues were offended by the remark, and Stukes later apologized on the floor.

But another African-American, Del. Emmett Burns, D-Baltimore County, took a different view in opposing the bill.

"I'm not against civil rights," Burns said. "But I have seen so many groups come to this country and get ahead of us economically, socially.

"There are only so many opportunities."

llazarick@baltimoreexaminer.com