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Cozine would educate illegal immigrants

TRENTON - Gov. Corzine said yesterday that he supported allowing illegal immigrants to pay in-state tuition at New Jersey colleges, but called a proposal to let undocumented residents obtain driver's licenses "problematic."

TRENTON - Gov. Corzine said yesterday that he supported allowing illegal immigrants to pay in-state tuition at New Jersey colleges, but called a proposal to let undocumented residents obtain driver's licenses "problematic."

Corzine made his comments in reaction to an immigration-policy report issued by a panel he created. The Blue Ribbon Advisory Panel on Immigrant Policy made dozens of recommendations in many areas. It will be up to Corzine and the Legislature to decide which to adopt.

Many of the ideas focus on breaking down cultural and language barriers to expand immigrants' access to services and to make them feel more welcome in their communities.

Other recommendations include tougher labor laws to prevent employers from ducking payroll taxes and exploiting immigrant workers, and creating a Commission on New Americans to coordinate policies affecting the state's foreign-born residents, who make up one of every five people in the state.

The recommendations are meant to help guide policy in a state that ranks among the top six as a gateway to America, according to the report. Most of the state's 1.7 million foreign-born population live in Central or Northern New Jersey. An estimated 400,000 of the state's immigrants are undocumented, the study said.

The tuition and license questions touch on issues that have sparked sharp debate across the country. In recent years, the results have generally been tighter restrictions on illegal immigrants.

Corzine has long supported letting immigrants pay in-state tuition for college, his aides said. But he said the license question demands a nationwide solution.

In New Jersey, attending a four-year public college as an in-state resident saves a student $7,000 per year, on average. At Rutgers the savings is nearly $10,000.

New Jersey Public Advocate Ronald Chen, who chaired the panel, said the entire state benefits when young people have access to higher education. Obtaining a degree, he said, can put them on a faster path for becoming permanent residents or getting a visa.

"Someone who has very possibly lived most of their life in the United States anyway, who was brought here by their parents at a very young age, and who for all practical purposes is a New Jersey resident, for them not having practical access to a New Jersey education is not good for the state," Chen said.

Ten states have passed laws allowing undocumented citizens to pay in-state tuition rates, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

But one of them, Oklahoma, recently pulled back on the rules, and four others have barred undocumented immigrants from receiving in-state benefits. South Carolina has blocked illegal immigrants from all public colleges and universities.

The North Carolina-based Americans for Legal Immigrant Political Action Committee has vowed to ramp up campaigns in New Jersey and five other states to block undocumented residents from receiving in-state tuition.

William Gheen, the group's president, said granting illegal immigrants in-state rates takes away seats from "innocent American students."

"Apparently [Corzine] didn't assign too many people to his committee that share the views of the majority of American citizens," he said.

A recent poll showed widespread opposition in New Jersey to both letting undocumented residents pay in-state tuition and letting them get driver's licenses.

Only 20 percent of those surveyed in the Monmouth University/Gannett New Jersey poll favored letting undocumented immigrants pay in-state rates, compared with 37 percent who said they should pay out-of-state prices and 39 percent who said they should be barred from public colleges.

About 62 percent were against giving illegal immigrants driver's licenses while 33 percent favored the idea.

Corzine kept his distance from that proposal.

"There are some recommendations, no matter how well intentioned, that cannot be accomplished without a comprehensive policy at the federal level, and driver's licenses for the undocumented is one of them," Corzine said in a statement.

Four states - Hawaii, New Mexico, Maryland, and Washington - allow people to obtain driver's licenses even if they do not live there legally. Utah lets undocumented residents get driving-privilege cards, according to the National Immigration Law Center.

Maryland lawmakers, however, have taken up ideas for tighter restrictions and in recent years states such as Maine, Michigan and Oregon have removed such privileges for illegal immigrants.

Yesterday's report said all New Jersey drivers would be safer if undocumented residents were licensed. Without the permits, they do not go through any tests and cannot obtain insurance, it argued.

Chen, however, agreed that the license question must be addressed nationally.

Several states that had more liberal rules on licenses came under fire for becoming magnets for illegal immigrants from other states seeking the documents.