Dream Act petitioners boasting 100,000 signatures

Dream Act foes put law on hold

By David Hill
The Washington Times
10:22 p.m., Thursday, June 30, 2011

ANNAPOLIS | Organizers of a petition against Maryland’s Dream Act said Thursday they have collected more than 100,000 signatures - nearly double the amount needed to force a November 2012 referendum on the law.

Opponents of the law, which would allow many illegal immigrants to pay in-state college tuition rates, had until Thursday night to turn in at least 55,736 valid voter signatures to suspend the law until a 2012 statewide vote.

Organizers already turned in nearly 58,000 signatures on May 31, 47,288 of which were validated and approved by the state Board of Elections.

Delegate Neil C. Parrott, Washington Republican, who has led the petition effort, said he expected to turn in more than 42,000 more Thursday night - only 8,448 of which will have to be validated for organizers to reach their goal.

“People worked extra hard on this. This is a total grass-roots effort,â€