Dream Act

President Obama has now met with leaders from the Congressional Hispanic Caucus and indicated that he wants the DREAM Act passed before lawmakers adjourn in December. The lame duck Democrats are now going to try to push through amnesty for illegal immigrants — that's what the DREAM Act is all about. They will start with a House vote and then move this unwise legislation to the Senate. Outgoing House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has tentatively scheduled a vote on the DREAM Act for Nov. 29, the Monday Congress returns from Thanksgiving recess.

If you're a liberal living in Maryland, there's been plenty of reason to smile lately. The Old Line State continues to beat a steady path toward leading a new vanguard of progressive policy and politics in the United States. Let's start with last November's elections. Actually, no: To understand why those elections mattered, let's back up two more years to the 2010 statewide elections. Nationally, the 2010 cycle was nothing short of a nightmare for liberals and Democrats. The Democrats lost the U.S. House and, if not for a few self-destructing Republican Senate candidates, would have lost both chambers of Congress.

At a ceremony in the shadow of Camden Yards, 48 new Americans made it their first act as citizens to pledge allegiance to a flag flapping in a stiff afternoon breeze. The recently minted citizens, who just moments before had renounced and abjured all fidelity to any foreign princes and potentates, were reminded by Lt. Gov. Anthony Brown of their new responsibilities as Americans - to get out and vote and be active members of their community. "You worked hard for citizenship, and you deserve it," Brown told the group.

As a life-long Maryland citizen, I completely oppose efforts within our misguided General Assembly to pass the Maryland Highway Safety Act of 2013, which would allow the state to issue a Maryland driver's license to illegal immigrants ("State Senate approves driver's licenses for illegal immigrants" Mar 25). I do not agree that this proposed legislation will make Maryland roads safer; in fact, I believe the exact opposite. Illegal immigrants, just by their status as "illegal," have far less incentive to follow the law than legal citizens which, I believe, will result in long term risks to the legal citizens of Maryland through increased property damage from accidents caused by illegal immigrants, lack of legal accountability from illegal immigrants causing accidents, increased costs to legal citizens to purchase insurance, pursue legal claims, etc. Maryland is quickly becoming a sanctuary for illegal immigrants for a variety of reasons, and being able to obtain a driver's license will only attract more.

I'm sad the in-state tuition for illegal immigrants issue has taken on a partisan slant ("Carroll, Frederick officials sound off on Dream Act debate," May 28). This is not a Republican or Democrat matter as it impacts every Maryland taxpayer and student, regardless of party affiliation. The petition challenging the Dream Act, which Gov. Martin O'Malley signed into law, will provide a sizable discount to students residing in our country illegally. If the citizens of Maryland had been better informed, or had at least been less apathetic, they would also challenge this flawed legislation.

Giving some illegal immigrants more access to higher education in Maryland could mean an extra $5 million a year for the state government, according to a new cost-benefit study by the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. The study found that the net benefit to local, state and federal government could be as high as $25 million. And it estimated an additional $41 million a year in private sector benefits. An analysis by the non-partisan Department of Legislative Affairs found that the Dream Act would cost the state about $3.5 million a year . The law, which will be on the Nov. 6 ballot, allows some illegal immigrants in Maryland to pay in-state tution at colleges and universities.

I am appalled at the trivialization that Dan Rodricks has placed on the issue of the "Dream Act" being about education of international students ("Seeing Dream Act students as 'our own," May 25). The issue he fails to address is the proper spending of our state taxes on legal Maryland residents and the drive to stop the continual misuse of funds by our state legislature and our state executive branch. I am a Maryland resident, but I cannot always say I am a proud Maryland resident because of the continual missteps of our elected officials.

Last year, Gov. Martin O'Malley signed Senate Bill 167 into law which granted Illegal immigrant college students the same tuition rate normally reserved for legal citizens of Maryland. Later, more than 110,000 Maryland citizens signed a petition to stop and block this law from going into effect. On Nov. 6, Maryland citizens will be able to choose whether to reject this unwise and controversial law via Question 4. For Maryland taxpayers to subsidize such a radical and unwise law to support Illegal immigrants with in-state tuition is a unjust and unnecessary burden imposed on us by our liberal governor.

Supporters of Maryland's Dream Act, a measure passed by the General Assembly last year extending in-state college tuition to the children of some illegal immigrants, are staging a series of events this week to build momentum in their effort to uphold it in next month's referendum. Tuesday brings an afternoon news conference with U.S. Rep. Elijah Cummings at the Patterson Park Public Charter School, where principal Chad Kramer and faculty members were expected to call for passage of Question 4. On Tuesday night, University of Maryland President Wallace Loh and state Sen. Victor Ramirez, a Prince George's County Democrat who sponsored the bill, at a gathering of religious leaders at a Seventh-Day Adventist church in Silver Spring.

Being a veteran, I read with interest in Thursday's Sun that the Dream Act would extend to 3 years the time honorably discharged veterans are allowed to pay in-state tuition at our schools ("Maryland Dream Act benefits veterans," Oct. 11) Of course I'll vote for the provision. But as I considered the rest of the bill, I wondered what the big deal is about undocumented immigrant children being allowed the same rate. It's not like we're voting to give them scholarships, or any other freebie.

Attention national media: You know Martin O'Malley, defender of the underdog. It's time to get to know Martin O'Malley, thug. The Maryland governor, widely rumored to harbor presidential aspirations, canonized himself in the progressive movement for championing gay marriage and in-state tuition for some illegal immigrants in the last election. He also deftly weaved a portrait of Maryland as a green energy, public-education utopia during his many appearances on national cable TV news during election season as President Barack Obama's surrogate.

When the year started, the talk around Annapolis was that Gov. Martin O'Malley had already checked out. In the sixth year of his tenure, many believed he was already looking ahead to a national role and viewed his day job as something of a chore. But he came into this year's General Assembly session with a wide-ranging to-do list. He promised to back gay marriage, and his influence in pushing it through the legislature cannot be overlooked. But he also sought to set Maryland's longstanding budget problems on a path to resolution, to restrict development on septic systems that foul the Chesapeake Bay, to seek new funding for wastewater treatment plant upgrades and to win support for an ambitious plan to put wind turbines off the coast near Ocean City.

The way Francisco Dominguez sees it, a law that would allow him to become a U.S. citizen would benefit everyone. "It would let more people work, which would generate more opportunity," Dominguez, 45, said in Mexican-accented Spanish as he waited on South Broadway in Fells Point one morning last week in the hope that someone might drive by and offer a construction job for the day. "The government would get more taxes, and we would get more money...

Kevin Hernandez was 11 when he left his grandmother's home in El Salvador, traveling by bus and on foot — alone — to Maryland to meet his mother, whom he had not seen since he was 6. Shortly after the boy waded through chest-high water to cross a river, he was arrested by immigration authorities and spent more than a month in a detention facility for children. After he was released to an aunt, he was reunited with his mother. Over the past five years, Hernandez has been tested by a turbulent adolescence.

[ President and Vice President of the United States (Maryland) ] 1842 of 1846 precincts reporting Barack Obama And Joe Biden (i) 61.4% 1,523,788 Mitt Romney And Paul Ryan 36.5% 904,488 Gary Johnson And James P. Gray 1.1% 27,714 Jill Stein And Cheri Honkayla 0.6% 15,547 All Write Ins 0.4% 9,465 [ U.S. Senator ] 1842 of 1846 precincts reporting Ben Cardin (i) 55.2% 1,332,380 Daniel John Bongino 26.6% 642,192 S. Rob Sobhani 16.9% 409,175 Dean Ahmad 1.2% 29,302 All Write Ins 0.1% 2,487 [ Question 1 - P.G. County Orphans' Court ]

As results poured in at the midnight hour for the 2012 elections, it appeared Baltimore County voters were in step with statewide voters on most ballot initiatives including the hot-button issue of same-sex marriage — but not on expanding casino gambling. With 230 of 235 county precincts reporting, the proposed Civil Marriage Protection Act, Question 6, was leading by about 51 to 49 percent. That was about the same as statewide percentages, with nearly 61 percent of precincts reporting.

Advocates of the Dream Act, which would allow the children of illegal immigrants to take advantage of the in-state tuition paid by other Maryland residents at state universities, are planning a big push in congregations in the weeks leading up to Election Day. The Maryland Industrial Areas Foundation announced plans Friday to hold Dream Sundays this weekend and next at churches in Baltimore city and Howard and Montgomery counties. Alisa Glassman, an organizer for the group, said the foundation has trained 540 clergy and lay people to act as advocates for the measure, which must pass in a referendum Nov. 6 to become law. The measure was put on the ballot last year when opponents gathered more than 104,000 signatures -- roughly twice the number needed -- to challenge the bill passed by the General Assembly and signed by Gov. Martin O'Malley.

Maryland's vote for same-sex marriage and the Dream Act runs counter to history, political science and human nature — a majority of citizens upholding laws that benefit distinct minorities. I think a little more attention must be paid to this. I find it extraordinary. Put to a popular vote, the civil rights of gay and lesbian couples to marry had been shot down 32 times in states across the nation, proof of the majority's power to limit the rights of a minority group or even oppress it. This has been referred to as the "tyranny of the majority.

This was the year of the referendum in Maryland, and given how things went at the polls, we're not likely to see a repeat any time soon. The success of all the three laws that were petitioned to referendum exposes the fallacy of Maryland Republicans' notion that they could build support for themselves and check the supposed excesses of the Democratic Party by bringing controversial measures to the voters. When Maryland Republicans, led by freshman Del. Neil Parrott of Washington County, succeeded in putting the Dream Act on the ballot, state GOP Chairman Alex Mooney called it a "game changer" and a counterweight to Democrats who "think that they can do what they want.