Andy Arnold
Can Maryland afford in-state tution for illegal aliens now?
January 12th, 2011 5:15 pm ET

State Sen. Victor Ramirez (D-MD) says he will introduce a bill to provide immigrant students in-state tuition rates for higher education. He was the lead sponsor of the legislation when it passed the House of Delegates in 2007.

Ramirez’ office made the announcement in a Dec. 27 press release. A request sent that same day for details of the bill were ignored. When introduced, the proposal would grant in-state tuition to students that have attended and graduated from Maryland high schools and whose parents have paid state taxes, regardless of immigration status, according to the Central American Solidarity Association of Maryland (CASA).

CASA had college and high school students in Annapolis Jan. 12 lobbying for the measure. A press release said the effort will be repeated during the session. Alien students will remain ineligible for most scholarships or loans if the proposal passes, CASA says.

Similar legislation passed the Maryland General Assembly in 2003 but was vetoed by then-Gov. Robert Ehrlich, Jr. (R). At the time, Ehrlich said the proposal violated federal law , there was no requirement in the bill that Maryland’s four-year institutions increase the number of people they accept for in-state tuition to account for the increase in applications from undocumented immigrants and the Department of Legislative Services was unable to determine what the cost of this law would be.

Help Save Maryland has already picked up on the fiscal attack.

“Maryland has tremendous budget deficit problems in Annapolis, Baltimore City, Montgomery County and Prince George’s County. [It is] time to force our elected officials to focus on the core missions of government … The fiscal bailouts from the feds are over,â€