Maryland Opponents Force Referendum For Measure That Gives Aliens In-State Tuition

Opponents of a Maryland bill that would allow some illegal immigrants to pay in-state tuition have collected enough signatures to force a referendum that places the measure on hold until next year's election.

Measure opponents obtained close to 109,000 valid signatures, the Associated Press reports. Just 55,736 signatures were needed.

The measure is similar to the national DREAM Act, which has been shot down in Congress numerous times. The DREAM Act would allow illegal immigrants who graduated high school and lived in the United States for at least five years, among other provisions, to become permanent residents.

"Today marks the beginning of the end for an illegal alien benefits bill that simply does not make sense," Neil Parrott, organizer of the petition drive and Maryland General Assembly delegate, said in a statement Friday, Reuters reports.

From the Los Angeles Times:

Opponents of the law say Maryland can't afford to subsidize the college education of illegal immigrants. Supporters, who say they will challenge the petition drive in court, say that the effort used misinformation to persuade people to sign and that the law grants undocumented students only some of the rights enjoyed by other Maryland high school graduates.

Immigrant advocacy group Casa de Maryland is considering a lawsuit, The Baltimore Sun reports.

Comments

[SBleeder]

12:46 PM on 08/26/2011

Mexican citizens pay $10k a year, Pennsylvanians pay $30k.

Makes perfect sense.

[spoonbill1963]

02:02 PM on 07/25/2011

Yippee. Now this is good news.

[GlennWatson]

07:47 AM on 07/25/2011

Casa de Maryland wants to sue people for voting and signing a petition. Democracy in action

[sibyl9]

12:46 AM on 07/25/2011

People are waking up.

[RoundBobs]

03:54 PM on 07/24/2011

Don't worry. Come out to Cali. We'll give you in state tuition, free health care, and a couple hundred bucks of WIC food stamps a week. We're still working on how we can get the taxpayers to pay for your room as well, but you know, tuition, board. Two out of three ain't bad.

[VikingQuest]

03:54 PM on 07/24/2011

There is no need to weigh it, the people will not support paying for more illegals to head to college at a discount when the prices are skyrocketing.

There is no reason that a kid from Minnesota should pay more to attend the U of MD than an illegal alien.

[spoonbill1963]

02:03 PM on 07/25/2011

Exactly.

[Dovoid]

06:07 PM on 07/25/2011

sounds like MD would rather its residents have the opportunity to achieve higher education and hopefully contribute back to that state. works for me.

[chargerman]

03:52 PM on 07/24/2011

Why not pay their room and board and give them free insurance while we're at it?

Stop the nonsense.

[floodberg]

03:42 PM on 07/24/2011

Finally, my state gives us a referendum. 

I have a sneaky suspicion that it will pass despite overwhelming public opinion; our deceased voters are very quixotic and tend to change their voting habits upon crossing over.  My mother (died 1983) and spouse (died 1991) are still voting:  I remove them from every voter registration, and yet they still vote.  My mother even moved twice after she was dead.  I have many friends whose dead parents are still voting, so it appears to be a sizeable voter block.

Maryland needs a referendum on Zombie voters as well.

[pixiepotpie]

08:33 PM on 07/24/2011

Being registered to vote is not casting an actual vote, so how is that impacting the passage (or not) of anything? Do you mean fraudulent ballets being cast by others in their names?

[floodberg]

09:18 AM on 07/25/2011

That's exactly what I mean.  And I've done everything to keep them off the rolls, but the poll judges have confirmed it.  Now, I can understand my mom could be a zombie, but per instructions, my spouse was cremated; so maybe there's a separate ghost voter category.  Zombies are, however, more likely to actually use the touchscreen to vote, since they probably have at least a hand.  And the state of Maryland says there's noooo problem, but my friends have zombie relatives voting (no cremations.)

[spoonbill1963]

02:04 PM on 07/25/2011

Yes. Can you say ACORN? They are still around.

[pixiepotpie]

08:34 PM on 07/24/2011

BallOts, rather (though I prefer the ballet :).

[floodberg]

09:13 AM on 07/25/2011

Between those choices I do too, but the idea of seeing my pols dance is frightening...

[Soter]

03:41 PM on 07/24/2011

People here in this country illegally- either by furtively crossing the border or over staying their visa, etc. ...only have the right to be humanely deported. They dont have the right to use citizen taxes nor do they have the right lobby for the use of this money. Supporters of amnesty or open borders are nuts- rampant immigration, legal and illegal, is knocking down the middle class wage base. It is also hurting the higher and lower ends of the spectrum too, it hurts most of us. To allow these people in for cheap votes and cheap labor, trumping national security along the way, is insane.

[jgag124]

03:18 PM on 07/24/2011

ARE THEY OUT OF THERE MINDS? SUBSUDISE THOSE THAT PAY TAXES NOT THE OTHERS. HAVE WE LOST ALL SENCE OF REALITY? LETS GIVE IT ALL AWAY AND ALL LIVE ON WELFAIR!!!! YOU GUYS ARE NIMRODS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Sarah Bridges]

02:35 PM on 07/26/2011

Wow, seems like college might not be where you're headed anyway, given your creative spelling talents:) Maybe leave this argument to people who are actually capable of writing skills that would get them accepted into an institution of higher learning. I cannot imagine that you contribute very much to the taxpayer pool if you have a job that doesn't require you to be able to write one complete sentence correctly. (Most kids who were born in foreign countries have excellent writing and verbal skills in at least two languages, BTW)

[TurnSeiki]

03:14 PM on 07/24/2011

Awesome! Let's see what the people of Maryland say. If they go for it, it's their tax dollars, not mine.

[Adrian31]

03:11 PM on 07/24/2011

I'm still trying to understand what the legal system doesn't comprehend about the word "illegal" in "illegal immigrant". Last I checked, the word meant 'not allowed', 'banned', 'against the law'.

So a guy who illegally smokes weed is sent to prison for 10 years while a person who enters the country illegally is given money, healthcare and access to education? Interesting, isn't it?

[RoundBobs]

03:56 PM on 07/24/2011

It would be just fine if not for one thing: It isn't a surplus of goods and services that we're subsidizing this insanity with. Millions of citizens and legal residents are going without food, shelter, access to education and healthcare. We aren't even coming close to providing for our own. Why is it more important to provide for others than our own?

[Adrian31]

07:59 PM on 07/24/2011

That's a good question, but they always comeback with the same answer: "To provide for those who are less fortunate". What they don't seem to connect is that the US citizens who are homeless and starving ARE less fortunate. Just because they reside in a 1st world nation doesn't mean they are more fortunate than those who don't. It's a sad state of affairs.

[spoonbill1963]

02:05 PM on 07/25/2011

Sad. Very sad.

[kkdkdkdkdk]

02:41 PM on 07/24/2011

Illegals should have no right to any tax payer money, period. I don't care if they've been in the country 50 years, they broke the law and are illegals. Go home.

[AbuHamza]

02:41 PM on 07/24/2011

Wait! Would that mean that an illegal immigrant would pay a lower tuition than a non-Maryland resident U.S. citizen?! That's messed up! And as a legal immigrant, I must say it pisses me so off!!!

[tultican]

05:24 PM on 07/24/2011

It is not so messed to let them pay resident rates if they have lived here since they were three and their parents paid state income and payroll taxes all along? Would you rather they just fade into a socially diseased neighborhood and join a street gang. They are not going to go to their parents old country because in a lot of cases they cannot even speak the language. These are young people that can be an asset or a problem. You could ship them all home, but it would take some gestapo type tactics which means your lose American liberty. You can deny them healthcare and education, but then you end up with epidemics and an angry underclass of sub-citizens.

[RichThomk]

06:27 PM on 07/24/2011

The law doesn't state that their parents "paid state income and payroll taxes". They could have paid $0 taxes or even received tax credits. Read the law

[VagabondBull]

06:53 PM on 07/24/2011

Why would it "take some gestapo type tactics" as you said? Take all the people who are applying for the in-state tuition rate but illegal and use that information to deport them. The same could be done with people using ITIN's (individual taxpayer identification numbers) which is what illegals use to file taxes at the end of the year. Yes, they do pay taxes but they are still breaking the law.

If the parents made the decision to involve their children in illegal activities like crossing into a country illegally then it is unfortunate but they are all breaking the law. First offense is a misdemeanor and they get deported, also maybe a small fine but nothing extreme. It's the subsequent offenses that make them felons and that exhibits a persistent desire to break the laws of our country. Why would we even want people like that in this country?

If the illegals have a child in this country, a so called anchor baby, it makes it slightly more difficult to deport them but it can still be done. When being deported the parents can decide to take their children with them and honor their parental responsibility or responsibly allow them to go into foster care either because they want a better life for the child or they don't want to be parents. Not everyone is fit to have children. Why should we allow people to keep breaking the law?

[inreasonsimage]

02:26 PM on 07/24/2011

Why should American citizens from others states pay higher tuition than ILLEGAL immigrants? A better question is why the illegal immigrants are allowed to enroll in Maryland colleges in the first place. They should be found and deported once they apply. No other country on the planet would put up with this nonsense.

[kkdkdkdkdk]

02:42 PM on 07/24/2011

Send them packing or apologize to the people who have been deported.