Anne Arundel court sided last week in favor of November ballot question on 2011 law that would make hundreds of illegal immigrants eligible for in-state tuition.
The Maryland “Dream Act” is bound for more courtroom colloquy before appellate judges decide whether voters will settle the issue via the ballot.
Attorneys trying to prevent a November referendum said today they will appeal last week's ruling in Anne Arundel Circuit Court that the Dream Act doesn't meet the Maryland Constitution's provisions that exempt appropriations bills from a ballot-box challenge.
Signed into law in May, the Dream Act would qualify certain illegal immigrants for in-state tuition at Maryland community colleges. A trio of Republican legislators spearheaded a statewide petition drive that easily tallied enough signatures to block the Dream Act’s July 1 start date and put the issue to voters in November.
In August, a coalition of immigrant advocates and labor and teachers’ unions challenged the Maryland Board of Elections’s decision granting a referendum. The subsequent trial in Anne Arundel Circuit Court centered on the fiscal burden state taxpayers will bear in compensating for the hundreds of illegal immigrants every year that would pay the lower in-state rate. Analysts predict state lawmakers will need to allocate as much as $3.5 million in fiscal 2016 to cover the difference.
In his Feb. 17 opinion, Judge Ronald A. Silkworth ruled that a price tag alone is not enough define the Dream Act as a true appropriation.
D.C-based attorney Joseph E. Sandler—who leads the legal team trying to quash the referendum—will seek to convince appellate judges that the Dream Act's fiscal dimensions are intrinsic, not incidental.
“It’s the very grounds on which the measure was criticized by its opponents,” Sandler said Wednesday.
Appellate guidelines confine discussion to the issues laid out during the preceding trial—meaning that the debate will only rehash arguments made in the lower court.
“Hands down, it’s not an appropriation, and we think the [Circuit] Court got it right,” said Paul Orfanedes, director of litigation for Judicial Watch, a government watchdog that intervened in the Anne Arundel trial on behalf of the state elections board and Attorney General.
Sandler will file the appeal next week, he said, after deciding whether to leapfrog the Court of Special Appeals and ask the case to be heard in the Maryland Court of Appeals, the state’s highest court.
The Court of Special Appeals is a three-judge panel, while the Court of Appeals consists of seven judges. The jurisdictional decision will fall on administrators of the Court of Appeals.
Dream Act litigators timed the Circuit Court trial so that its eventual appeal would reach a final ruling within the next few months.
“We expect the case to be decided one way or the other well before” the November election, Sandler said.
TaL
9:35 pm on Wednesday, February 22, 2012
Don't we live in a democracy? Why is so much effort being put into preventing citizens from having a vote on the issue?
Mark Parker
10:03 pm on Wednesday, February 22, 2012
Good question.
jnrentz1
6:48 am on Thursday, February 23, 2012
TaL;
I agree. Referendum is democracy in action. It is disheartening to see people opposed to letting the people decide.
Jeff Hawkins
7:44 am on Thursday, February 23, 2012
Simply put, when the "ruling" class can't get their way they will use any action needed to "cram" things through. It's always been that way here in Maryland. You are not really being "represented" as much as you are being "managed".
Douglas
10:33 am on Thursday, February 23, 2012
Exactly correct. The logic that says persons who are here illegally should get in state rates when they aren't even supposed to be in this COUNTRY is profoundly twisted. I am so tired of working my butt off to hand over money just so our 'representatives' can continue giving away freebies (bribes) to "deserving" parties (illegals, unions, etc. the people trying to kill the referendum) when regular people don't get such outrageous wages, time off, benefits (FREE cosmetic surgery??!!) and every other high-ticket "benefit" under the sun. It's shameful.
AngelicaS
12:55 am on Friday, February 24, 2012
The fact that the group Casa de Maryland, the sole objective of which is to subvert U.S. immigration law, is litigating against the referendum tells you everything you need to know. Americans across the polticial spectrum (including this Democrat) are AGAINST rewards for ILLEGAL FOREIGN NATIONALS. This is a digusting attempt to require the citizens of Maryland to fund and incentivize more illegality while, at the same time, cutting services to Maryland citizens and LEGAL Immigrants! Stop Casa de Maryland! Vote against this Nightmare Act in Election 2012!
Erick
4:02 pm on Friday, February 24, 2012
I was educated at the University of Maryland despite of being undocumented. Now, I fight alongside many homeowners who are trying to save their homes from foreclosure. I work for several law firms doing legal work. I supported my family so none of my family members ever bother our government for handouts US Citizens are entitled to. The Dream Act makes sense. In-state tuition can make the difference between an uneducated Marylander and a burden to society Marylander. Please vote green on the Maryland Dream Act. Let's help these soon to be documented kids to be what they want to be.
jnrentz1
4:09 pm on Friday, February 24, 2012
Erick,
Those people who are in America illegally can do the following:
Leave America
Return to your country of origin
Apply for a Permanent resident Visa.
Receive the Permanent Resident Visa.
Return to America as a Permanent Resident
Apply for and become an American citizen
(Learn English, along the way, but definently prior to applying for citizenship)
Erick
4:59 pm on Friday, February 24, 2012
Jnrentz1,
Immigration law is so complex that many don't have to leave the country to be legalized. Immigration judges has so much discretion. Some of them choose not to separate families. We are talking about students who grew thinking that they were Americans. Students who had been educated already. Why should we kick them out when we can absorb them into society. Many of them already fulfull %75 of the requirements you are talking about.
Douglas
10:37 am on Friday, March 2, 2012
You say you work for a law firm? I am curious about this, if it is true you are undocumented. What type of firm is this? (By they way, it is "75%", not "%75")
Michael Brown
9:07 am on Friday, March 2, 2012
I found the original Blog interesting and thought provoking. The comments could be classified as 1. sympathetic to the undocumented children; 2. angered about the attempt to avoid a referendum; and, 3. hateful about the illegal immigrants and their undocumented children. They were all legitimate opinions but provided no informational value. Talk, without sharing what they learned or how they formed their opinion.
The issue of being illegal seems to alter peoples judgment. Coming into this country without permission is illegal. Speeding, running a red light, drunk driving, using drugs, underage drinking, cheating on taxes are also illegal - yet we just shrug it off though the behavior costs us billions of dollars and thousands of lives annually. In the same manner, they are all criminals.
These undocumented workers pay taxes. The Institute for Taxation and Economic Policy estimated the state and local taxes paid in 2010 by households that are headed by unauthorized immigrants amounted to over $11.2 billion in income, property, and sales taxes. Many also pay into Social Security though they are ineligible to receive it.
These undocumented workers are Maryland residents. Most are paying income tax, all are paying sales tax - it is reasonable to treat them as Maryland residents by our state schools. These children are likely to remain here and will probably become citizens. If helping them with their education helps them contribute to our economy, I'm all for it.
Douglas
11:03 am on Friday, March 2, 2012
I don't think your item (3) is accurate. I am not (and most are not) "hateful" towards illegals. It is more accurate to state that what we hate are persons expecting and advocated "free stuff". Would we get this if we went to THEIR country.
Saying illegals pay into social security is misdirection-- social security benefits aren't part of this discussion.
They don't pay income tax-- our tax rates are biased to high end income earners and no one of modest or low income pays ANY income tax in Maryland. This is like the federal level, where 49% of persons pay no income tax at all.
Lastly, let's get real on the "they pay sales tax" argument. Let's say you had an illegal that had a great job that made $30k (which I suppose you can't, because you'll say they're underpaid anyway), and let's further say they spent EVERY penny on buying taxable stuff in Maryland (which they can't, since a lot of stuff is exempt from sales tax). If they paid the maximum amount conceivable that comes out to just $1,800. So, they get to ride our roads, get fire protection, police, snow removal, and every other state-provided serivce under the sun AND get more than an $1,800 discount on school to boot? You can clearly see that far more is coming out than is going in, which is why our debt (state and national) is out of control.
It is easy to prove that all of this is a significant burden, and that is unreasonable to expect tax paying citizens to be willing and able to pay the bill.
Michael Brown
9:14 pm on Monday, March 12, 2012
Fact rarely wins against bias. Insisting that they don't pay income tax when the facts clearly show that more than half do is not an expression of an opinion but of a falsehood. If you want to argue that they earn so little that most of their Federal income taxes are returned, though not stated in any analysis I've seen, I accept the logic. However, those who are employed pay 6-15 percent of their gross earnings in so-called payroll taxes - they don't get that back. They also pay state, local, property, gas, and sales taxes all of which is well documented. Generally, the working poor actually pay a higher percentage of their income in these taxes in every state except for Vermont (www.taxpolicycenter.org/UploadedPDF/occa38.pdf see also wweek.com/portland/article-17350-9_things_the_rich_dont_want_you_to_know_about_taxes.html).
The fact that we have a progressive income tax is irrelevant to this discussion. I too support having a flat or a value added tax. Who is lobbying against it?
About half of the 49% who pay no Federal income tax do so because they simply don't earn enough money. The other half doesn't pay Federal income taxes because of special provisions in the tax code that benefit certain taxpayers, notably the elderly and working families with children.
I pay taxes to educate other people's children. I believe educating all children in our community is an investment in our community. The Dream Act simply recognizes these children as Maryland residents.
Douglas
11:07 am on Friday, March 2, 2012
By the way, it's worth noting even very liberal and progressive countries that promote free education of all persons (Sweden, Norway, etc.) limit this to LEGAL persons that are known and properly acknowledged to be part of their society. This is for the simple reason that there isn't an international mechanism for one country to demand payment for the education of another country's citizens.
Brad
2:52 pm on Monday, March 12, 2012
Stop the illegal alien nonsense in Maryland. Join www.HelpSaveMaryland.com
Michael Brown
11:14 pm on Monday, March 12, 2012
Interesting, thank you for pointing that out. It seems you are mostly correct. All schools in Norway are free, including university - even for foreign students. Children without legal residence in Norway have the right to attend primary and lower secondary school but not upper secondary school (ages 17-19) or university. Ironically, it appears that they could compete for placement as a foreign student if they had a residence outside the country.
It should be noted that Sweden and Norway require that all citizens participate in a national ID program. All services and employment require a national ID. Even so, Norway recognizes that even undocumented immigrants (illegal aliens in U.S. speak) have a right to basic health services and education. Sweden, on the other hand, does seem to take a hard-line approach across the board.
As a consequence to the national ID programs, the undocumented immigrants of both countries are unable to find any regular work and what work they do find is pure exploitation. In the U.S., American employers knowingly hire undocumented immigrants thereby providing a job market for them. Maybe it's cheaper than outsourcing and most of the money stays here..
an interesting site:
http://www.illegalimmigrationstatistics.org/writing-paper-illegal-immigration/