April 20, 2009
Here illegally? How about in-state tuition?

Posted at 4:28 pm, in: Immigration
Tags: Illegal Immigration, New Jersey

I know. I really need to give the illegal immigration thing a rest, and I will, just not today:

Champions of a proposal to allow illegal immigrants in New Jersey to pay in-state college tuition could be forgiven for believing, after years of frustration and defeat, that their cause may finally have momentum.

A blue-ribbon panel convened by Gov. Jon S. Corzine to study immigration matters unanimously supported the proposal in a report issued last month, and the governor has also endorsed the idea. Meanwhile, a new, more liberal wind blows in Washington.

But even the most hopeful immigrant advocates in New Jersey concede that these developments may not be enough to push the proposal, which is outlined in several bills, through the State Legislature, particularly during a recession and in a year in which the governor and the entire Assembly faces re-election.

Choosing his words carefully, Shai Goldstein, executive director of the New Jersey Immigration Policy Network, said, “We’re cautiously optimistic.” He paused, then added: “There’s been pushback on this.”

The bills, versions of which have languished for years in the Legislature, would allow an illegal immigrant who had attended a New Jersey high school for at least three years and graduated to be eligible for in-state tuition at a publicly supported college or university. (College tuitions and fees paid by out-of-state students are on average more than 90 percent higher than those for New Jersey residents, the panel said.)

Illegal immigrants, advocates argue, should not be penalized for their parents’ actions. Also, they say, allowing students access higher education will encourage more immigrants to excel in high school, multiplying the state’s intellectual capital and empowering its work force.

You would think New Jersey of all places would have learned its lesson about illegal immigration when four of Newark’s teens were shot, execution style (three died, one survived), by illegals a couple of years ago, shortly before the teens were scheduled to head off to college. Apparently not. I’m sorry, I must have misplaced my sympathies because they lie with the teens who were shot and their family and friends, not with the illegal immigrants.

It’s not about punishing the children of illegals for the decisions of their parents, but we also shouldn’t be rewarding their parents by providing their children with a discounted education. This policy change would benefit illegal immigrants while penalizing American citizens from other states. Why should an illegal from another country get a discount that an American from another state can’t get?

This just creates the incentive for more illegals to move to Jersey. Not that I care that much. We’re talking about Jersey, the armpit of America. Unfortunately, it probably won’t be the politicians and illegal immigrant advocates that pay for these often deadly choices. It will be the citizens of New Jersey who pay with thier lives when some criminal who snuck into our country illegally decides to break the law, again.