Arlington County Board member Walter Tejada said that it’s unlikely Virginia would pass legislation granting in-state tuition rates to illegal immigrants, at least with Republicans filling the state’s top offices.
Tejada, speaking Friday on WAMU’s Kojo Nnamdi Show, pointed to Gov. Bob McDonnell, Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling and a Republican majority in the House of Delegates as a combined hurdle to passing legislation similar to that adopted by the Maryland General Assembly.
Maryland recently passed a law granting lower tuition rates to illegal immigrants, though a petition has begun to put the issue on voter’s ballots this fall.
“What we ask our kids to do is do their homework, to study, to pass their tests and not get in trouble,” Tejada said. “This is exactly what many of these kids have done. Many of them find out when they start applying for colleges that they are in fact not U.S. citizens. They consider themselves American just like everybody else… We have some of the best and brightest – some of whom are valedictorians – we are not allowing them to continue their education. It is wrong.”
