Tution Break for Illegal Immigrants

In an address to education and business leaders, Gov. Patrick unveiled details to unilaterally implement measures that would afford illegal immigrants in state tuition. Apparently, Gov. Patrick wants to join other states that have similar measures. There is debate of whether this measure will result in an revenue increase or revenue loss to the state. According to some estimate the state could lose $15 Million in order to provide the tuition cut. However, The Massachusetts Tax Payer foundation claims that there will be a $2.5 Million increase in revenue. This issue promises to be a hot button issue among the leaders of the house. The Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition has been actively lobbying the leaders on this issue.

During my dinner break, I asked some of mt co-workers how they felt about the issue. The conversation quickly turned to ideology lines.
"Why not, they live here they should be able to pay the same in state tuition", others said ; "They need to be here legally before they can benefit from our services, besides it will be rewarding illegal behavior, they are here illegally", were many of the comments exchanged.

It bothers me that immigrants, often times for economic reasons, are forced to leave their homes and venture amidst dangerous circumstances to an unfamiliar land to them. Most of the undocumented immigrants that I have met are decent hard working people, often times working for peanuts and a good number of them pay taxes !!! As long as there is corruption and social injustice in Latin Countries and Third World Countries, immigrants will continue to flock to other lands, particularly the U.S. On the other hand I fully understand that we need to ensure the well being, on all aspects, of our residents first. On this, I look at the analogy of a mother. A mother makes sure that the children are taken care of first before caring for others. If the State really wants to face the rise of undocumented immigrants in the state, they would go after the employers that knowingly hire undocumented workers. This is a necessity, particularly in the current circumstances where terrorism is always a breath away. However, in this case the undocumented immigrant will be paying for a service, for an Education. True, even if they complete their education they can not work, due to their illegal Immigrant status. But at least, they have a good education to take to their homeland in case they are deported. Let us be realistic, it is impossible to remove all undocumented immigrants. An educated person, regardless of their immigration status, is an asset to society.