Threats of a Republican filibuster and a growing anti-immigrant tide are muddying the prospects for a plan to allow illegal immigrants to pay in-state tuition in Maryland, key lawmakers said yesterday, despite the bill's near passage in recent years.
After narrowly failing last year, supporters returned to the General Assembly yesterday to argue that the legislation is necessary to give children who were educated in Maryland public schools a chance to afford going to college here, regardless of whether they are able to prove they are in the state legally.
Critics argued that because of the limited number of slots for students receiving in-state tuition at Maryland's public colleges and universities, every undocumented student allowed to pay the lower rates would mean one fewer legal resident getting the discount.
Legislative leaders said the bill would face an uphill battle this year, given the national sentiment.
"I think it's going to be a tough sell in both the House and the Senate," said House Speaker Michael E. Busch, who said the passage of a similar bill last year in his chamber required quite an effort "to rally the votes."
"The mood has changed," he said.
The legislation, which passed in both chambers in 2003 but was vetoed by Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr., would allow students to qualify for in-state tuition if they attended high school in Maryland for at least two years and graduated, proved that they or their parents had paid state income taxes and promised to file an application to become a permanent resident within 30 days of being eligible to do so.
Although much of the debate will center on the bill's potential to benefit illegal immigrants, it also opens the door to those who are here legally but on asylum status from such countries as El Salvador or Sierra Leone, as well as U.S. citizens who may have moved out of state after graduating from high school but would still like to attend college here.
At a hearing yesterday in the Senate Education, Health and Environmental Affairs Committee, several students and advocates gave passionate testimony about how the bill could affect them and thousands of others in the state. They focused on the difficulty undocumented students face in paying for college because many cannot apply for federal loans or grants.
Edgar Mondragon, a senior at Bladensburg High School from Mexico who declined to say whether he was in the country legally, told the committee that without the passage of the bill, he could not afford to go to college.
"There are thousands of young people like me who came to the United States because of the decisions of others, not us," he said. "Is it fair to make me pay for the actions of others?"
During the hearing, Sen. Paul G. Pinsky, a Prince George's County Democrat who sponsored the bill, said it didn't make sense for students who have lived in the state for almost their entire lives to pay the same tuition - $15,000 or more a semester at the University of Maryland, College Park - as students from New Jersey. In-state tuition for roughly one semester, or 24 credit hours, at College Park is $8,005.
State Sen. Andy Harris, a committee member who proposed a bill that would prohibit the state college system from allowing illegal immigrants to pay in-state tuition, said he would lead an effort to filibuster the bill. His principal objection, he said in the hearing, is that the in-state tuition spots are fixed.
"There are only a certain number of slots," he said. "If one slot goes to an illegal immigrant, it's taken away from someone who's here legally, whose family could have lived here for hundreds of years."
Harris said he didn't believe there would be enough votes to for it to pass in the Senate. Advocates who say otherwise are "grandstanding," he said.
"I'm pretty confident that we're going to have a handful of Democrats who heard from their constituents that this is a bad idea and will be bad policy. It was a bad idea last year and it's a bad idea this year," Harris said.
Rick Abbruzzese, a spokesman for Gov. Martin O'Malley, who supported the bill last year, said the governor would sign it this year.
Kim Propeack, an organizer and lobbyist for CASA of Maryland, the state's largest Latino and immigrant advocacy group, said she thinks the bill would withstand a filibuster.
"We believe that we have enough votes in committee, on the floor and to move it out of both chambers," she said.
In a year when many states are seeking to cut off public benefits from those who can't prove legal status, even longtime immigrant advocates in the legislature are uncertain about the bill's chances. This year, lawmakers introduced 28 immigration-related bills in the House and Senate, the vast majority of which seek to cut off benefits for immigrants.
Many Democrats have expressed support for a bill that would create a task force to study the impact of immigration statewide, including an analysis of the costs of illegal immigrants and how much they pay in taxes.
bradley.olson@baltsun.com