Illegal Immigrants Get Preference Over US Citizens

There's a Federal law that governs educational rights for illegal immigrants. Specifically, public elementary and secondary schools must allow illegal immigrants to enroll, presumably because educated illegal immigrants are better than uneducated illegal immigrants. The same law also prohibits states from providing illegal immigrants any tuition breaks that are not available to all U.S. citizens. South Dakota, in effect, couldn't charge more money to a North Dakota resident then they do to an illegal immigrant.

The law makes sense, except it never would have occurred to be to provide lower tuition to illegal immigrants than to American citizens.

It turns out that four states have found a way to bypass the law. These states offer in-state tuition not based on state of residence, as is common custom, but rather by the state the student attended high school. Since by Federal law a state cannot prohibit an illegal immigrant from attending high school in the state, the student automatically qualifies for in-state tuition regardless of citizenship or immigration status. The four states are California, New York, Texas, and Utah, which rank 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 6th respectively for illegal immigrant populations (GAO report).

Why bring this up? Aren't we all sick of hearing what California is doing anyway? Because Maryland just passed a bill to do the same thing, and the Governor has already stated he would sign it.

In-state tuition has always been problematic for young adults heading off to college. If you move to a new state, you're automatically charged out of state tuition. Even switching your driver's license and becoming a legal resident of your new state won't grant you the benefits that long-time residents enjoy. This can be particularly frustrating as most teenagers have no ability to choose where they live prior to college.

The comments button is below. I promise I won't delete comments... I just want one, honest good answer from anyone who has it. Why on Earth should a person who sneaks their family across the border illegally get lower tuition than a legal resident who chooses to move into Maryland to attend college? Someone, please, explain it to me.

Labels: education, immigration, Maryland

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