Sen. Andy Harris, the Baltimore County Republican locked in a congressional primary battle against Sen. E.J. Pipkin and incumbent Rep. Wayne T. Gilchrest, announced today that he will introduce legislation to prevent illegal immigrants from getting in-state tuition at Maryland colleges and universities. Coincidentally, illegial immigration is a huge issue in the primary.
An interesting piece of this issue is that a bill that would have actually granted in-state tuition to illegal immigrants died last year (Harris notes in his news release that it failed after he threatened a filibuster). But Harris said that's not good enough.
"This year we must pro-actively work to protect resident status for those who are legal residents of Maryland. Its good public policy and common sense," Harris said in a news release. He said the Board of Regents could act to give illegal immigrants in-state tuition on its own, so the legislature needs to act now.
"Why should we give even more incentives for illegal immigrants to flock to Maryland? Maryland is already one of the few states to give illegal immigrants drivers' licenses. Now liberals want taxpayers to give each illegal immigrant over $53,000 to go to our taxpayer-funded state colleges and universities," Harris said in the release.
During last year's debate, education officials said the actual cost to the state wouldn't be nearly that high and that most of the potential students in question would likely be going to community colleges.
