READ THE SUBJECT LINE, ***** !
"TonyZ2001" <tonyz2001@aol.com> wrote in message
news:20041210102216.16189.00001855@mb-m02.aol.com...
Lower tuition rate for undocumented immigrants sought
By Elise Castelli, Globe Correspondent | December 9, 2004
Advocates for immigrants and refugees yesterday renewed their demand for
cheaper, in-state tuition for undocumented immigrants at state colleges,
saying
the results of the fall elections show that the Legislature can pass the
measure without political damage.
During the fall Legislative campaign, the Republican party sent out
nearly
100,000 fliers blasting Democratic incumbents for approving legislation
that
would provide tuition breaks for undocumented students. But Republican
challengers lost heavily in the legislative elections.
''The issue didn't have legs and the voters decided there are other
things that
are more important to us and yes, we want to provide students access to
college," said Ali Noorani, the head of the Massachusetts Immigrant and
Refugee
Advocacy Coalition. ''I don't see any legislators getting gun-shy. ''
The state Republican Party sees things differently.
''The mailings were done to highlight an issue that we believe was a
good
issue. The party does not support taxpayer funding for illegal
immigrants and
it is not something taxpayers support," said Timothy O'Brien, the
executive
director of the state Republican Party. ''If you look at the results of
the
election, this year was the year of the incumbent."
The in-state tuition bill, which was refiled Dec. 1, would allow
immigrant
students who have lived in Massachusetts for three years and graduated
from a
Massachusetts high school to pay in-state tuition rates at the state's
colleges, regardless of their immigration status. It would help about
400
students. The measure was passed by both houses as a budget provision
earlier
this year, but Romney vetoed the item in June, saying, ''I do not want
to
create an incentive to do something which is illegal."
Yesterday the governor stood by the statement. ''No matter how well
intentioned, we don't believe in extending benefits to people who are
hiding
from the law," said Romney spokeswoman Laura Nicoll.
The bill's Senate sponsor, Jarrett T. Barrios, said yesterday he was
confident
that the measure will become law this session, despite the governor's
actions.
''This piece of legislation seems to get some people very worked up, so
worked
up that they are willing to spend over a million dollars sending
literature
denouncing brown children who happened to want to go to college after
their
graduation from high school in our commonwealth," the Cambridge Democrat
said.
Eight other states have laws that permit illegal immigrants to attend
school at
residents' tuition rates. Currently undergraduate tuition for state
residents
at the University of Massachusetts at Boston amounts to $8,034 per year.
Nonresident tuition costs $18,767, according to the school's website.
The
$10,000 gap would be insurmountable to immigrant students, the activists
say.
''When I was in high school I was very active, but suddenly you come out
of
school, there is nothing for you, nothing you can afford, and you are
sitting
home watching TV and getting fat," said Cesar, 18, who asked his last
name not
be used to protect his family.
The East Boston High School graduate immigrated to Boston from Peru when
he was
11 and had hoped to major in political science at UMass-Boston.
.
