Even in this Era of Outrage, no issue sparks more emotional brushfires than illegal immigration. Now Gov. Jon Corzine -- by endorsing cheaper, in-state college tuition rates for undocumented immigrants -- has dropped another match.

But the governor is right. This generation of illegal immigrants should be provided higher education at reasonable costs. And once we all take a deep breath and look at this issue logically, we might realize it's in our best interests.

Basically, the United States' immigration policy has been like a bad game of hide-and-seek that no one really wants to play. At enormous cost, law enforcement finds and deports only a fraction of the undocumented immigrants who enter the country each year. For decades, the real message we've sent to illegal immigrants is: "Once you're here, you're in."

We may call them law-breakers. We may demand they go home and reenter the country "the right way." We rage on internet sites about how much money they're costing us "real Americans." We demand that our politicians -- the same ones without the guts to design an effective immigration policy -- "enforce the laws on the books." Maybe that makes us feel better, but it doesn't solve the problem. Outrage isn't a policy.

Given that they're here, we have two basic choices: We can harshly restrict services to undocumented immigrants in the hopes of discouraging those who are mulling a sprint across the border, or we can try to help them assimilate.

We can deny driver's licenses, shrink the job market by severely penalizing employers who hire illegal immigrants, curtail the ability to buy a house, and, yes, make it difficult to gain higher education. But that would exacerbate the problem. The costs of creating an even larger impoverished population would be enormous, the strain on social services crippling, with no guarantee that the illegals would stop coming. Because no matter how Spartan we make it for illegal immigrants to live here, the promise of the United States will always be a better option for some than the conditions in their homelands.

It makes more sense to adopt federal policies that will tighten our borders and slow the pace of illegal immigration, while dealing reasonably with the undocumented immigrants who are here. Issues of driver's licenses, work permits and other documentation need to be handled at the federal level, but several states, including California, New York and Texas, already extend in-state tuition to the children of undocumented immigrants.

Helping them advance their education is a step in the right direction. And we're not talking about a free ride. For an illegal immigrant attending Rutgers for four years, for instance, in-state tuition would cost approximately $40,000, roughly half the out-of-state rate.

Look at the big picture: Over the course of a lifetime, college-educated workers pay more in taxes than the lesser-educated -- and it's likely to be a lot more than the $40,000 New Jersey would be investing. College-educated workers are less likely to go on the public dole and more likely to be able to pay for health care or acquire it through their employers. So are their children.

They're here. They're staying. So let's find a way to get them to pay their fair share. Providing a reasonably priced college education improves their chances to do so.


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