WHEN DID ILLEGAL BECOME LEGAL?

Posted on Monday, March 30 @ 14:25:54 PDT by dailymuse
In The Lobby


March 30, 2009

So let’s get this straight.

New Jersey’s unemployment rate is 8.3%, higher than the national average. Out-of-work New Jerseyans can spend months looking for work. Colleges are raising tuition.

And now, Gov. Corzine wants to put out the welcome mat to illegal immigrants?

After keeping the wraps on a blue-ribbon advisory panel’s report, Corzine today endorsed one of their key recommendations: to offer in-state tuition to illegal immigrants. He also wants to create a government agency dedicated to immigrant affairs. (Click here to read a copy of the full report.)

Aren’t we in the middle of a budget crisis? We don’t have enough money to keep $250,000 in the budget for Jersey Fresh, but we have enough to create a new government agency for immigrants, illegal and otherwise?

Tuition is on the rise for New Jersey students, yet we’re supposed to subsidize tuition for illegal immigrants?

Are we missing something here?

The only recommendation Corzine didn’t implicitly endorse was one where New Jersey would give drivers licenses to illegal immigrants, saying that was an issue the federal government to decide.

We guess we should be grateful.

Or maybe it was articles like this in the Washington Post, which showed how Maryland was becoming a magnet for illegal immigrants seeking drivers licenses that give him pause.

The study makes several other recommendations, including calling for a “moratorium on raids by Immigration and Customs Enforcement that would last until the passage of comprehensive nationwide immigration reform. A goal of the moratorium would be to avoid break-ups of families when a parent is deported and children stay,â€