Bill Would Bar Illegal Migrants at State Schools

Despite a resounding rebuff last year, an Orange County assemblyman announced Tuesday that he will push anew a bill that would bar illegal immigrants from attending California’s universities and colleges.

Assemblyman Mickey Conroy (R-Orange) said he felt the tide of public opinion had turned on the immigration issue, giving him hope the Legislature would go along with efforts to require that only legal residents be admitted.

“People who say we’re just beating up on illegal aliens are missing the point,” Conroy declared during a Capitol news conference. “What I’m concerned about is my grandchildren, whether they’re going to have a place in our university system. Handing out our tax dollars is great when we have a lot of money, but we’ve run out of money.”

But the bill, which stalled in committee last year, would appear to once again be headed nowhere.

On Tuesday, the Assembly Higher Education Committee scuttled legislation authored by Assemblyman Richard L. Mountjoy (R-Arcadia) that is virtually identical to Conroy’s bill. The same committee is expected to take up Conroy’s measure next week.

During the committee hearing, Democrat lawmakers attacked the proposal to screen out illegal immigrants as inflammatory, unnecessary and bigoted. Assemblyman John Vasconcellos (D-Santa Clara) took particular exception, calling the idea “morally reprehensible” and suggesting that “providing an education makes them more likely to contribute and not be on the public dole.”

Scott P. Plotkin, governmental affairs director for the California State University system, said winnowing out illegal immigrants is administratively difficult and defies the traditional methods for selecting students--academic excellence.

“We’re not interested in becoming agents of the Immigration and Naturalization Service,” Plotkin said.

Conroy and other immigration reformers see the issue more simply.

Under federal law, no one should be in the country illegally, they note. As such, they argue, illegal immigrants should be barred from tapping public programs, which serve as a powerful magnet to lure people across the border.

They also contend the illegal immigrants who attend California universities are unfairly taking spots when there are not enough openings for legal residents.

Just how many college students in California are illegal immigrants remains in doubt. Conroy and other advocates for stricter entrance screening say illegal immigrants may number more than 14,000 in state colleges and universities. If so, taxpayers are paying more than $50 million a year to subsidize those students, they estimate.

“It’s not peanuts,” said Alan C. Nelson, director of the Federation of American Immigration Reform, which is sponsoring Conroy’s bill.

Nelson, former INS commissioner during the Reagan Administration, contends state university officials have repeatedly “stonewalled” any attempts to review their enrollment numbers and practices concerning illegal immigrants.

About $9.7 billion was budgeted for higher education in the state this year.