Undocumented

Dan Rodricks ' recent column lacked a very important adjective in its headline. ("Immigrants: We detest them - and need them," June 30). It lacks the word "illegal. " But we know Mr. Rodricks agenda: He loves the word "undocumented" instead, as if that cleans it up. When an individual illegally crosses our borders, he or she is committing a felony. But we can't expect Mr. Rodricks to get that close to the truth. He says we need immigrants. Of course, we do. We always have.

In Annapolis, some conservative Republicans - having apparently not taken notice of the 2012 election and the conundrum facing their party over its hard-line immigration stance at the national level - are lambasting a proposal to expand and make permanent a two-tier driver's license system in Maryland. One even warned that Maryland could soon become a "Disneyland" for illegal immigrants. But it is opponents who are living in a Disney-like fantasy land if they can't see who the chief beneficiary would be of any system that seeks to ensure all Maryland drivers meet minimum standards of knowledge and competency and are eligible for insurance.

Jose Camacho's goal seemed simple enough: Leave Guanajuato, Mexico, for Baltimore, work hard enough to earn $10,000 and return home after a few months. But once he reached $10,000, he yearned to make $15,000 or more. Before long, a few months became five years. Today, Camacho, 50, lives here with his wife and three children, and he earns more money laying cable than he could back home. The most important attraction for people such as Camacho, who enter the United States illegally, remains economic opportunity.

Any plan that provides a path to citizenship for the 11 million illegal immigrants will not be complete unless it includes a repayment plan for all the benefits provided to them by American taxpayers ("Migrant worker plan in works," Feb. 22). This includes food stamps, Medicaid and especially our public school systems. Maryland spends an average of $11,000 per pupil per school year, which is funded by taxpayers whether or not they have children. The only group in America that is exempt from contributing to school funding is illegal immigrants.

Frederick -- A Frederick man who died shortly after he was shocked by a police Taser had drunk a lot of alcohol but apparently had taken no drugs, the Frederick County Sheriff's Office said yesterday. Jarrel C. Gray, 20, died Nov. 18 after Cpl. Rudy Torres, a 13-year-veteran of the sheriff's office, used the electronic stun gun on him twice in 23 seconds after responding to reports of men fighting outdoors in a Frederick neighborhood about 5 a.m. Torres delivered the first, five-second burst after Gray ignored an order to show his hands, Cpl. Jennifer Bailey said.

After years of rapid growth, the nation's undocumented population has swelled to 10.3 million -- with 200,000 to 250,000 residing in Maryland -- according to a report released yesterday. The study from the Pew Hispanic Center found an average annual increase of about 485,000 unauthorized migrants from 8.4 million in April 2000 to 10.3 million in March 2004. While such migrants often fill low-paying, labor-intensive jobs, their steady growth has a major impact on everything from English instruction for non-native speakers in schools to health care for the uninsured.

At a time when President Bush and leaders of the state Republican Party are making aggressive efforts to reach out to immigrant populations, two GOP delegates are steering a different course. Baltimore County's Richard K. Impallaria and Patrick L. McDonough are drawing criticism for a legislative package they've introduced seeking to crack down on illegal immigrants in Maryland. "We know we're going to be labeled," said McDonough. "We also know that 85 percent of the American people are in our corner."

SHOULD IMMIGRATION BE factored into the highly charged debate about the solvency of Social Security? A new study posing that question produced intriguing answers - especially at a time when President Bush and Congress are wrestling with both topics. Immigrants expected to enter the United States over the next 75 years will significantly enrich Social Security's coffers, contributing $611 billion to the benefit fund, according to an analysis by the National Foundation for American Policy, a public-policy organization.

Americans have been engaged in a cacophonous national debate these last two weeks over the pressing question of what to do about the 11 million undocumented immigrants living in this country and the 3 million more who attempt to come here each year. All eyes were on Washington last week as lawmakers grappled with competing legislative proposals that many hoped would finally address that question and put the government on course to reforming the nation's troubled immigration system. But on Friday, Senate leaders failed to reach agreement on a compromise measure that would create a guest-worker program that President Bush has repeatedly called for, permit 325,000 foreigners to work here temporarily each year and allow millions of illegal immigrants already in this country to gain legal residency.

LOS ANGELES -- Three ships carrying 659 undocumented Chinese have been intercepted in international waters off the Baja coast by the U.S. Coast Guard, which last night was monitoring their progress, awaiting orders from Washington.Coast Guard officials in Long Beach, Calif. said the interception of the ships, first sighted during the holiday weekend, was the largest in the agency's history. They also said it was the first time such ships had been intercepted in international waters off the West Coast.

President Obama no longer has to worry about re-election, so now he is free to pursue his so-called "comprehensive immigration reform" - in other words, amnesty for illegal immigrants ("Granting legal status for undocumented immigrants will increase competition in workforce," Jan. 29). Congress must stop any proposal by this administration to give amnesty to illegal immigrants. It must not ignore the plight of the American worker, and we should beware of the administration's lame excuses for rewarding illegal immigrants with American jobs.

I'm old enough to remember the 1986 amnesty for undocumented immigrants ("Citizen status is seen for millions," Jan. 28). I recall it was guaranteed never to happen again and the matter was settled. Now, nearly three decades later, we're back at square one. Millions apparently will be pardoned and soon wending their way to citizenship. I was surprised by Vice President Joe Biden's recent comment at this month's congressional swearing in ceremony. He stated that the Latinos "are the center of the future of this nation.

When the General Assembly passed the Maryland Dream Act, lawmakers intended to allow certain students who are undocumented immigrants to pay in-state tuition rates at the state's colleges and universities. It was a recognition that these young people represented an asset to the state to be cultivated, not a threat. But the law contained an unintended consequence no one seems to have noticed at the time, and the result has been that rather than lowering college tuition costs for these young people, some of them are now paying more for their educations.

Under the Maryland Dream Act, students who want to attend our community colleges or public universities at the in-state tuition rate must have attended a Maryland high school for at least three years. They must prove that their families filed state income tax returns during that time, and they or their families must file returns each year that the student attends college. Because the Dream Act was written for illegal immigrants, you might be wondering how this can be. Since when do such people pay income taxes?

On Wednesday, one of the most sweeping changes in U.S. immigration policy in decades went into effect when an estimated 1.7 million children of undocumented immigrants became eligible to apply for the temporary right to work and go to school in this country without fear of being deported. Under an executive order issued by President Barack Obama in June, the federal government will no longer deport undocumented immigrants under the age of 31 who came to this country as children if they meet certain conditions.

Amid chants and cheers, a group including clergy, unions and a university president rallied Wednesday in support of Maryland's law to give tuition breaks to illegal immigrants. "Vote yes for education! Vote yes for Maryland students!" yelled Karina, a 22-year-old illegal immigrant from Montgomery County who wants to attend college at the discounted in-state rate. The coalition wants to uphold the Maryland Dream Act, a controversial 2011 law that would let some illegal immigrants pay the lower in-state tuition rate at the state's colleges and universities.

Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke, harshly criticized by Hispanic leaders three weeks ago when he ordered a city task force to search out illegal aliens at construction sites, acknowledged yesterday that the city has failed to turn up a single illegal alien after visiting more than 100 sites."

Hispanic immigrants who took part in recent protest rallies around the nation repeatedly compared their demonstrations to those of the civil rights movement. Despite the small number of black participants at the rallies pushing for immigration reform, the protesters invoked the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks and linked the struggles of illegal immigrants in the U.S. today to those of black Americans in the 1950s and 1960s. Protesters in Mississippi - a battleground state during the civil rights era - even sang "We Shall Overcome" in Spanish.

Correcting the deceptions, vitriol and misinformation of the immigrant bashers posted on this page is a full time job for someone with more time on their hands than myself. But several recent posts contain logical fallacies that shouldn't be ignored. Letter writer Edward Kreinheder, for example, implies that illegal immigrants are recipients of government benefits ("Deport illegal immigrant lawbreakers," March 1). There are no government benefits available for illegal immigrants like Julio Cesar Ayala, the Salvadoran grandfather of six whose cover was blown when he responded to a family emergency by using a car and was caught driving without a license.

"I believe in the idea of amnesty for those who have put down roots and lived here, even though some time back they may have entered illegally. " That was Ronald Reagan speaking during his 1984 reelection campaign. After that election, he stuck to his guns, signing an immigration reform law that allowed illegal immigrants to apply for residency if they could prove they'd lived in the country for five years, held jobs and committed no crimes. The law also called for tougher border enforcement, but its primary effect was to provide 3 million people with a path to legalization, and many eventually became citizens.