Rally spotlights immigrant access to higher education

Chanting "let immigrant children earn the right to learn," nearly 50 students and advocates rallied on McKeldin Mall yesterday in a show of support for two state bills that would allow children of illegal immigrants to receive in-state tuition.

The bills, which have raised controversy among lawmakers and system officials alike, would add Maryland to a list of 10 other states that allow undocumented youth who have spent two years in the state school system to pay in-state tuition - more than $7,000 less per semester than out-of-state tuition. Despite the controversy, university officials have remained mum on the bills.

Ann Wylie, university President Dan Mote's chief of staff, said that the university would not take a stance because "it's a Board of Regents decision. We have no authority to make judgments of who gets in-state and who gets out-of-state tuition."

If students feel strongly enough about the issue, they can raise it in the University Senate, she said. If the senate votes on the issue, Mote will take it seriously, she said.

Students of the university and surrounding colleges, along with local middle and high school students, arrived by way of crowded vans provided by Casa De Maryland, a non-profit organization that provides services to illegal immigrants and helped organize the protest.

Wielding signs that read "education not deportation," "justicia" and "your kids deserve an education," the protesters shouted personal testimonies and political pleas for what they see as a just law.

"It is unbelievable that in a country that is a voice of democracy, we hear every day in the voice of the president that [immigrants should not be accepted]," said a priest in his opening remarks in Spanish. "Before we are Christian, we have to be human."

Prince George's District 2 Councilman Will Campos and University System of Maryland Chancellor Brit Kirwan have both testified in Annapolis in favor of the bills. Opponents of the legislation have introduced their own bill, which would explicitly prohibit the children of illegal immigrants from receiving in-state tuition - a measure Kirwan said is redundant because federal law already prohibits this.

In a February interview, Sen. Andrew Harris, the opposition bill's sponsor, said he views in-state tuition as a scholarship - a privilege he does not want to award to undocumented youth.

Student Regent Richard Scott and Student Government Association President Andrew Friedson also support the bills.

"According to the bill, they will have resided in the state for a significant period of time and will have paid taxes in the state," said Friedson. "The reason why people get in-state tuition is because you've paid taxes to support the state. The same premise would hold true - it seems to me to make sense."

But for high school students who just want an affordable education, the politics of the situation seem irrelevant.

"We already know what we want to be; I want to be a graphic designer," said Edda, a child of an illegal immigrant who is undocumented herself. "I'm here to help people ... who want to come to college."

Edda, whose last name is not disclosed because she is a minor, said she arrived in the U.S. three years ago. The Montgomery County high school freshman spent five years in Guatemala without her parents before they could afford to fly her and her siblings to Maryland.

"My mom was a big example to me because she would study and go to college," said Edda, who has a B average in school. "It's an example for me to keep trying and go to college."

Campos, who was an immigrant himself, echoed Edda's views with a touch more sophistication.

"Stay the course. Keep fighting," he told protesters. "This law will eventually pass, if not this year, then the next."

Senior staff writer Megan Eckstein contributed to this article. woodhousedbk@gmail.com