Ohio bill would prevent illegal immigrants from receiving in-state tuition rate

Rep. Matt Lynch

Ohio Rep. Matt Lynch (R-Bainbridge Township) and Rep. Wes Retherford (R-Hamilton) have introduced legislation today that will reverse the recent decision by the Ohio Board of Regents to grant in-state tuition to illegal immigrants in Ohio.

“The recent decision by the Board of Regents will cost Ohio taxpayers tens of millions of dollars, and blatantly ignores a requirement in administrative code that defines a resident as someone who is qualified to vote in the state,” Lynch said. “Illegal immigrants in the so-called DACA program do not have lawful status and cannot vote, and therefore should not be granted in-state status.”

On June 15th, 2012, the White House issued a memorandum ordering U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to exercise prosecutorial discretion and defer action against certain individuals found to be in the country illegally. This action, known as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), did not grant lawful status to the individuals - it simply gave them legal presence in the country.

On July 29th 2013, the Ohio Board of Regents announced that DACA recipients would be eligible for in-state tuition at public universities. This decision came despite the fact that the Ohio Administrative Code defines a resident of Ohio, for purposes of receiving in-state tuition, as someone “who is qualified as a resident to vote in Ohio.” Because DACA recipients do not have lawful status and therefore cannot vote, the Board of Regents decision stands in violation of its own administrative rules and necessitates the legislation. Without legislative action, Ohio taxpaying citizens will be forced to subsidize students who are admittedly in the state illegally.

Rep. Wes Retherford

“It is unfortunate that we must take this step of filing legislation because of this egregious decision,” Retherford said. “The Board of Regents can still do the right thing and reverse the decision, but we will work quickly to move this bill through the legislative process in order to prevent this from continuing any longer.”

When the legislation is assigned a bill number and referred to a House committee, it will be linked here.

A new 'IDEA' on illegal immigration

I'm intrigued by this approach to illegal immigration from Rep. Steve King from Iowa’s 5th congressional district. Wondering what you think of it, as detailed here:

New IDEA (HR-3720) states explicitly that wages and benefits paid to illegals are not tax deductible. It gives employers “safe harbor” if they use the Internet-based E-Verify program to verify legal status during their hiring process, but it does not require them to do so. During a normal audit, the IRS would run employees’ I-9 identification information through the E-Verify program; whenever a worker could not be verified as a lawful employee, the IRS would not allow the deduction of that employee’s wages and benefits as a business expense. This would be, in effect, a tax or penalty on the employment of illegal immigrants. For example, a $10-per-hour illegal employee would cost $16 an hour without the normal tax deductions. With a six-year accumulated statute of limitations, employers will calculate the inevitability of an eventual audit and use E-Verify to clean up their work forces, whether abruptly or incrementally.

New IDEA also requires the IRS to set up a cooperative team with the Department of Homeland Security and the Social Security Administration. Illegal employees often pay into Social Security under false Social Security numbers, creating thousands of “no match” letters from the Social Security Administration. This massive evidence of illegal employment is often ignored. Homeland Security needs this “no match” information to enforce the law, and the executive branch requires a clear directive from Congress.

Will the stimulus go to illegal immigrants too?

That's the question and it's permeating the internet and blogosphere. In looking for what will or might occur and what language is included in the House stimulus package, I came across this entry from The Crypt, the blog for Politico.com.

As they explain, the problem is with the way that individuals file their taxes. Many use Individual Taypayer Identification Numbers (ITIN), rather than Social Security numbers. Both legal and illegal immigrants use ITINs. If the Senate prohibits rebates to individuals who use ITINs, they'll keep some people, who are here legally, from getting the funds.

"A spokesman for House Minority Leader John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) points out that illegal immigrants are ineligible for any rebates and are committing tax fraud if they fraudulently obtain taxpayer ID numbers to file tax returns. Republicans also issued a memo Wednesday trying to defuse any controversy over immigrants and tax rebates.

"The bill includes language similar to the provisions included in the 2001 and 2003 tax relief bills designed to prevent illegal immigrants from receiving benefits," Boehner spokesman Kevin Smith said. "There is no language in the measure that would enable illegal immigrants to receive a tax rebate.”"

The real problem with this is that the IRS, not being a law enforcement agency, doesn't check to see if the person using an ITIN is in the country legally or not.

"Mark Krikorian, director of the Center for Immigration Studies, a conservative organization, says the problem is not with the economic stimulus bill but with the lack of coordination between the IRS and immigration enforcement agencies.

"If the IRS was cooperating with Social Security or DHS [Homeland Security] ... they would know who the illegal immigrants are who file tax returns," Krikorian said."

I don't care whether illegals in this country pay taxes or not. The fact that they're here illegally should be cause enough to disqualify them from participation in any so-called stimulus rebate.