While illegal immigration continues to be a national issue for Congress and the president, in the Massachusetts gubernatorial race, major-party candidates have held polar opposite opinions on how to treat illegal immigrants within the state.
Lt. Gov. Kerry Healey has taken a firm stance against providing illegal immigrants benefits, while Democratic candidate Deval Patrick has had less to say.
As part of her 50-point plan titled “Tough, Smart Solutions to Change Massachusetts,” Healey proposed mandating photo identifications for all voters during elections, penalizing Massachusetts firms that hire illegal aliens and requiring that the driver’s licenses of all legal immigrants expire on the same day as their visa — all to deter illegal immigration.
“We must do all we can to preserve the integrity of our elections,” Healey said on her website.
However, Patrick, who has not made the issue of illegal immigration a major campaign issue, has endorsed a proposal for a tuition plan that would allow illegal immigrants living in Massachusetts to receive the same in-state tuition at public universities as legal residents.
At the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, for example, the difference between in-state and out-of-state tuition is $9,000 a year. Opponents of the proposal say it could cost Massachusetts taxpayers millions of dollars.
Additionally, Patrick said he supports issuing drivers’ licenses for illegal aliens.
“I want to know the names and addresses and faces of the people who are here,” he said in a 2005 Boston Herald interview. “The people who are driving on the roads, I want the insurance issues dealt with, I want to know the people on the road know the rules of the road.”
State representative candidate from Framingham Jim Rizoli, a spokesman for the Concerned Citizens and Friends of Illegal Immigration Law Enforcement — an anti-illegal immigration committee whose website states, “Help stop illegal aliens from taking American jobs!” — said his organization will support whichever candidate takes a “hard and firm stand against illegal immigration.”
“Right now, Kerry Healey is the only one talking about the problem,” he said. “It will be an important factor in the election; the only problem is getting the people who are mad as hell about it to vote. As it sits now, people are too apathetic about it and are not using their votes to show their opposition to it.”
Rizoli said illegal immigration is a detriment to the United States and “will be the downfall of this country.”
“We cannot sustain everyone who is coming here. It’s costing Framingham $31 million a year to educate children of probable aliens,” he said.
On a national level, illegal immigrants can cost the United States up to $10 billion a year through unpaid taxes, Rizoli said.
Although the organization does take a harsh stance against the issue of illegal immigration, Rizoli said additional laws are unnecessary.
“There are plenty of already written laws that restrict it in so many ways,” he said. “The old are fine, they’re just not enforced. Local towns should be given more power to enforce laws against those that come here and break the laws.”
Shuya Ohno, a spokesman for the Boston-based Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition, spoke strongly about the necessity to fight for immigrants’ rights.
“To quote John F. Kennedy, the U.S. is ‘a Nation of Immigrants,'” he said. “Immigration has always been and continues to be one of the most important aspects of our nation. Immigration continues to define the very meaning of an inclusive American Dream.
“The MIRA advocates for social justice, equal treatment and equal opportunities for immigrants in Massachusetts, New England and the U.S.,” he continued.
Ohno said because many baby boomers are retiring, there is a desperate need for immigrants in the American workforce.
“The anti-immigrant laws being proposed at local levels, and those being passed in Congress will have a detrimental effect to the country,” he said. “The country needs immigrants.”
According to Ohno, the United States immigrant population also makes up a noticeable portion of the military; 30,000 soldiers are illegal residents, and the 100,000 who currently have citizenship began that way.
“Immigrants built this country,” he said. “And the U.S. cannot function or survive if we turn our backs on Lady Liberty and all that she continues to stand for.”