Undocumented

Opponents of a proposal allowing undocumented immigrants to pay in-state university tuition have focused their displeasure in a new area: They want the plan extended to include members of the military and their families. After impassioned debate yesterday, the House of Delegates amended a bill that would provide the new tuition benefit to illegal aliens to also cover those serving in the military. "I think it adds balance to the bill," said Del. Herbert H. McMillan, an Anne Arundel County Republican who sponsored the amendment.

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.

THE RECORD $11 million civil fine Wal-Mart Stores Inc. recently agreed to pay to settle charges of using undocumented immigrant workers in violation of federal immigration law is proof that work-site investigations by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security are effective. Yet investigations of companies employing illegal immigrants have decreased in recent years even as members of Congress have called for stricter immigration controls. From 1997 to 2003, completed work-site investigations fell from 7,537 to 2,194, according to the Department of Homeland Security.

A Montgomery County judge has dismissed a lawsuit brought by a conservative foundation demanding that a Montgomery County community college end its practice of offering in-county tuition rates to illegal immigrants. A spokeswoman for Montgomery College, which has campuses in Rockville, Takoma Park and Germantown, told The Baltimore Sun last year that the school's policy is to offer the reduced tuition rate to anyone who can demonstrate that he or she lives in Montgomery County or graduated from a public high school there within the past three years.

WASHINGTON -- More than two in three Americans want Congress to pass an immigration bill that includes border security, employer enforcement, a temporary worker program and a means for illegal immigrants to earn citizenship, according to a recent nationwide poll. They recognize that we have ignored the way America's broken immigration system has undermined our security, laws and economy for too long. I should know: I represent America's restaurants. We are creating jobs faster than the overall economy, employing almost one in 10 American workers.

Not everybody does it. People who can afford full-time "domestics," people who can afford attorneys to advise them on immigration laws, people who can afford to pay penalties should they get caught with illegal aliens in their homes -- they do it.These are the same people, Washington insiders among them, who didn't think such an insignificant matter -- "tut-tut" -- could keep Zoe Baird out of the attorney general's office. They considered her infraction a mere parking ticket on the windshield of a limousine.

UNTIL LAST week, one would have thought the 8 million undocumented immigrants living in this country were mere figments of our imagination, ghosts posing as nannies and gardeners, busboys and maids, farm workers and construction workers, parking attendants and taxi drivers. Though the subject got short shrift in last week's debate between President Bush and Sen. John Kerry, it was good to hear them finally address one of the most vexing issues facing this country: what to do about the millions of illegal immigrants living here and how to stanch the daily flow of thousands more.

WASHINGTON -- House Speaker Dennis Hastert indicated yesterday he was willing to consider a guest worker program as part of the immigration-reform package now moving through Congress. Meanwhile, the Senate began debate on immigration reform with the split between senators who support a new path to legalization for undocumented immigrants and those opposed on full display. In comments to reporters, Hastert, an Illinois Republican, did not embrace the idea of a guest worker program such as that contained in legislation approved earlier this week by the Senate Judiciary Committee.

President Bush has offered his opening bid in a new round of negotiations to produce comprehensive immigration reform, and it's not very tempting. In order to win the support of conservative Republicans, Mr. Bush appears to be trending right. His aides are floating proposals to stiffen penalties for undocumented workers seeking citizenship, to require all of them to make at least a brief return to their country of origin and to set up a two-tier system for green cards that favors skilled workers over the relatives of U.S. citizens.