It's just smart politics

By RUTH SHEEHAN, Staff Writer

Fifty-five percent of the people washing dishes in Wake County are Hispanic. Latinos make up 67 percent of construction workers in Durham.

And -- wink, wink -- all of them are here legally, with every "i" dotted and every "t" crossed.

So are all the folks who slaughter the pigs, and cut the nearly-frozen chickens, and scrub the toilets at local hotels.

These are the people who labor in the most menial, low-paying jobs in this state -- often for years on end.

Some state lawmakers want to provide in-state tuition to the children of these people.

Nice idea. But if you think this is about soft-hearted liberals pulling out the state checkbook to save illegal immigrants' lives one by one, well, wink -- I mean, think -- again.

For one thing, we're talking about in-state tuition -- not a free ride, not even a leg up on admissions standards. Just the same rate as anybody else who lives in the state. In fact, while other students need only live here 12 months to establish residency, the children of illegals would have to attend high school here for all four years.

Realistically we're talking maybe several hundred students who might enroll per year.

I wouldn't exactly call that the milk of human kindness.

Instead, this is a measure ordered up by the party that rules both sides of the political aisle: the Business Party. Business leaders know that until the federal government resolves its border issues, or increases enforcement, or allows more immigrants in legally, illegal immigrants are a critical cog in the machinery of getting it done every day in North Carolina.

As they say on Jones Street, this ain't about the chirren, it's about bidness.

Still, as handily as business can manipulate the legislature, it can't control the citizens.

When word of the in-state tuition bill hit the news media, the tamale hit the fan.

Not since the "white hands" ad during the Senate race between Jesse Helms and Harvey Gantt have I seen such rhetoric about minorities taking what rightfully belongs to hard-working (read: white) Americans.

So ferocious was the reply that we saw a handful of Jell-O-jointed lawmakers who had co-sponsored the bill (for bidness) ask to have their names erased. The one bit of happy news here is that spineless lawmakers who equivocate always end up getting blasted from both sides.

The opponents are outraged that the children of legal residents will lose their spots to the children of illegals. Maybe that'll encourage their kids to work harder.

As for the emphasis on "illegal," the last I checked, we don't demand out-of-state tuition of North Carolina teenagers whose parents are convicted drug dealers, rapists or murderers.

I guess those guys aren't as bad as the parents who sneak into the country to work their butts off and build better lives for their kids. Or try to.

Unfortunately, opponents have their own little wink-wink in this, too: Cutting off the children of illegals helps keep another generation poor, and poorly paid.

And for some, I reckon, that works out just fine. After all, we need somebody to wash the dishes, hammer the nails and scrub the toilets.

Legally -- wink, wink -- of course.

Ruth Sheehan can be reached at 829-4828 or rsheehan@newsobserver.com