[Windwalker]

Tuition deal for illegals is back

One would hope with the economy tanking, the state budget just under the spending cap, the projected surplus looking like it wants to become a deficit and the legislature's budget office projecting red ink for the next few fiscal years, Democratic lawmakers would be more circumspect about larding up the 2008-09 budget.

But prudence isn't in their nature. Senate Majority Leader Martin Looney, D-New Haven, wants the children of illegal immigrants attending state community colleges to pay the same tuition as legal residents. Meanwhile, Rep. Felipe Reinoso, D-Bridgeport, seeks to give that break to illegals attending any state public college and university. If the latter bill becomes law, the taxpayer-funded reward for being in this country illegally could be as high as $60,000 over four years, on top of the free education the children of illegals got from Connecticut's public schools.

This was a bad idea last year when Gov. M. Jodi Rell vetoed a bill similar to Rep. Reinoso's. Residents overwhelmingly opposed that measure because it would have violated the 14th Amendment and the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 by giving illegals public benefits unavailable to U.S. citizens. It would have permitted illegals to enroll at a state college or university at the expense of Connecticut or U.S. citizens whose tax dollars underwrite the costs of public higher education. It would have encouraged even more illegals to migrate to Connecticut to take advantage of yet another taxpayer-funded benefit to which they never should be entitled. It would have poured more public money into the bloated higher-ed industry, thereby adding to the inflation that has seen the price of a college education in America triple in inflation-adjusted dollars in the last 25 years.

Those facts are unchanged. In vetoing the bill passed in 2007, Gov. Rell said she sympathized with the students but could not get past the fact they are in this country illegally. (Actually, they now are adults and could be sent back to their country of origin.) Gov. Rell's first responsibility is to the people and taxpayers of Connecticut. To that end, she should anticipate the Democrats sending her a tuition-break bill for illegals by ensuring her veto pen is full of ink.
This article is from The Republican-American.