While the media has focused on some states that have toyed with the idea of emulating Arizona’s response to illegal immigration, more of them seem to be headed in precisely the opposite direction, especially in recent weeks. The Washington Post reports on the recent passage of a bill aimed at granting discounted tuition rates to students who are in this country illegally, while discriminating against out-of-state college students.
This seems to be a departure from the strategy DREAM activists employed in previous years, i.e. enact full scale amnesty for these young adults by lobbying for federal legislation, yet is in keeping with a trend of bypassing the federal government by enacting similar, scaled-down plans on a piecemeal basis. For example, the recent law in Utah that creates a potentially disastrous, and unquestionably illegal, guest worker program, which would have been part of the AgJobs bill that has also been rejected by Congress in recent sessions.
A Democratic incumbent from Maryland has a comprehensive explanation of why his colleagues in the House of Delegates should vote against the bill just passed by the Maryland Senate. It’s worth reading in its entirety, because it provides several detailed reasons why such a law would not only be discriminatory against American citizens, but would also remove one of the last incentives individuals have to pursue citizenship and immigrate to this country through the proper legal channels. If only more politicians had the insight and courage of John Olszewski, Jr., then perhaps we wouldn’t find it necessary to rehash this debate yet again.
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