OPINION: Tuition for illegals

State Sen. Chris Romer has proposed some bad ideas in the past, but it's hard to imagine a better economic development proposal than his new bill written to qualify illegal immigrants for in-state tuition at Colorado's state-sponsored universities. The common-sense bill would qualify an illegal immigrant for in-state tuition if he or she has earned a GED or high school diploma within the past five years.

The bill would change things mostly for young people who wound up in the United States through no fault of their own. They were brought here illegally by their families, or their families came here legally and stayed too long. It could also aid adults who entered the country illegally, on their own, and then obtained a GED or graduated from high school.

Illegal immigrants residing in Colorado pay taxes - lots of taxes. Every time they purchase goods they pay sales taxes. Those who own their homes pay property taxes; those who lease property pay them as part of their monthly rent. They pay user fees and fuel taxes.

Unlike out-of-state applicants to our state's universities, illegal immigrants living in Colorado have helped fund Colorado's state and local governments.

Most live with the title "illegal" simply because of scandalous, unrealistic, unworkable federal immigration laws that need to be changed.

Romer's bill is not about doing something fair and friendly for illegal immigrants. It's about doing something sensible and reasonable that will remove a barrier to human success.

In-state tuition in Colorado averages about $2,340 each semester, whereas out-of-state tuition averages a whopping $7,040. Resourceful, hard-working illegal immigrants may be able to afford in-state tuition, while there's little prospect for many of them affording the out-of-state cost - a price set to maximize revenue coming into Colorado from other regions.

The removal of a barrier to human success would help Colorado's economy, now and into the future. Human success is a key and essential ingredient to a successful statewide economy.

This column frequently tries to remind country-club Republicans and so-called neo-conservatives about fundamental economic principles, which they have forgotten during the post-Reagan years. It has often explained that our economy pulled immigrants into this country with the lure of high wages because it needed them for service and production during a labor shortage. Without the economic growth they helped provide, this country's economic crisis would be far worse.

Anti-immigration activists seem to forget those recent days near the turn of the 21st century when employers were begging for workers and wages were soaring. They forget those days when it seemed no one could run a cash register, because job prospects were so abundant that few employees stayed at one job for more than a week, job jumping up and down the street. They don't seem to understand that wealth is created by working human beings, and this is a country in which a massive generation of baby boomers declined to produce a sufficient labor pool.

When the economy was red hot, signs hung on every small business, each begging for help. Immigrants filled the void, and they were paid in excess of minimum wage.

Today's economy has less use for them, and they're leaving our country in droves. But some are here to stay. The more educated and skilled they become, the more wealth they will produce.

That's why business leaders around the state support the bill, including Colorado Rockies owner Dick Monfort, who doubles as chairman of the University of Northern Colorado's board of trustees.

Unfortunately, the Legislature's Republicans are gearing up to oppose the bill.

Broomfield Republican Sen. Shawn Mitchell, who takes sound positions on most legislation, says Romer's bill would be a snub of federal immigration law.

"Any time you try to do something drastic like this, that is, or may be, at odds with federal law, you're promising yourself a court headache and extensive, expensive litigation," said Mitchell, as quoted in the Denver Post.

Sen. Mitchell, who cares? Bad federal immigration law, which has no nexus with economic reality, should not cause Colorado to live with bad policies that only stand to hold us back. The federal government shouldn't determine our state's tuition policies.

That's your job.

Nothing good can come from ensuring that one class of individuals - people living, working and paying taxes in our state - has no reasonable access to higher education.

This reasonable proposal, to help our future economy, deserves bipartisan support.