Threats of a Republican filibuster and a growing anti-immigrant tide are muddying the prospects for a plan to allow illegal immigrants to pay in-state tuition in Maryland, key lawmakers said yesterday, despite the bill's near passage in recent years.
After narrowly failing last year, supporters returned to the General Assembly yesterday to argue that the legislation is necessary to give children who were educated in Maryland public schools a chance to afford going to college here, regardless of whether they are able to prove they are in the state legally.
Critics argued that because of the limited number of slots for students receiving in-state tuition at Maryland's public colleges and universities, every undocumented student allowed to pay the lower rates would mean one fewer legal resident getting the discount.
Legislative leaders said the bill would face an uphill battle this year, given the national sentiment.
"I think it's going to be a tough sell in both the House and the Senate," said House Speaker Michael E. Busch, who said the passage of a similar bill last year in his chamber required quite an effort "to rally the votes."
"The mood has changed," he said.
The legislation, which passed in both chambers in 2003 but was vetoed by Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr., would allow students to qualify for in-state tuition if they attended high school in Maryland for at least two years and graduated, proved that they or their parents had paid state income taxes and promised to file an application to become a permanent resident within 30 days of being eligible to do so.
Although much of the debate will center on the bill's potential to benefit illegal immigrants, it also opens the door to those who are here legally but on asylum status from such countries as El Salvador or Sierra Leone, as well as U.S. citizens who may have moved out of state after graduating from high school but would still like to attend college here.
At a hearing yesterday in the Senate Education, Health and Environmental Affairs Committee, several students and advocates gave passionate testimony about how the bill could affect them and thousands of others in the state. They focused on the difficulty undocumented students face in paying for college because many cannot apply for federal loans or grants.
Edgar Mondragon, a senior at Bladensburg High School from Mexico who declined to say whether he was in the country legally, told the committee that without the passage of the bill, he could not afford to go to college.
