The Weekly Standard‘s Jonathan Last has an article up making a limited defense of the in-state tuition rate for illegal immigrants policy that Texas Gov. Rick Perry signed into law. Last writes:
Last then goes on to review some contradictory studies looking at the law’s impact on illegal immigrant educational attainment. But let’s assume, for the sake of argument, that the law is highly effective at creating more highly educated illegal immigrants. Where are these illegal immigrants going to work?
By Last’s own syllogism, the answer appears to be Texas. But, unless Perry’s Dream Act is in fact an amnesty, these illegal immigrants are still just that: not citizens of the United States. Which means that it is illegal for Texas employers to hire them. Perry’s tuition law, according to this Last defense, is, in effect, a conspiracy to violate federal immigration laws.
There might be some good defenses of Perry’s in-state tuition for illegal immigrants law. This isn’t one of them.
