States take divergent paths on illegal immigrants

PHOENIX — Frustrated by the influx of illegal immigrants, some states are trying to make this country less inviting to those who sneak across the border. Other states are moving in the opposite direction, trying to offer illegals many of the privileges citizens enjoy.

Lawmakers in Arkansas, Colorado, North Carolina, New Mexico and Nebraska have considered allowing the children of illegal immigrants to pay in-state college tuition rates. Iowa lawmakers have looked at making it easier for illegal immigrants to get driver's licenses.

On the other side of the debate, a new Utah law will replace licenses for illegal immigrants with driving-privilege cards that cannot be used to board airplanes or register to vote. A Virginia lawmaker wanted to bar illegal aliens from attending the state's universities.

The most restrictive measures lately have come from Arizona, the busiest illegal en- try point on the nation's porous southern border.

"We may not be able to secure the borders as we would like," said Republican state Rep. Russell Pearce. But "we don't have to allow them to get free stuff."

Arizona voters last year approved a law that denies some welfare benefits to illegal immigrants. Now Arizona lawmakers are trying to bar illegal immigrants from attending adult education classes, obtaining child care assistance, or receiving in-state status at public universities or state-subsidized college financial aid.

Many states have long been frustrated by what they consider the federal government's failure to crack down on the flow of illegal aliens or overhaul the nation's immigration laws.

Last month, the Pew Hispanic Center, a private research group, reported that there were an estimated 10.3 million illegal immigrants living in the United States last year, an increase of about 23 percent from in 2000.

The Homeland Security Department announced in March that it is assigning 534 additional agents to the Arizona border, bringing the total there to about 3,000.

President Bush wants to allow some illegal immigrants to remain in this country under a special work program but has run into opposition from his conservative GOP base.

In the meantime, Arizona and other states complain that they must shoulder tens of millions of dollars in costs each year for health care and schooling for illegal immigrants and for locking up those who break the law.

Many of the proposed state restrictions against illegal immigrants have a variety of purposes: tightening security post-Sept. 11, making this country less attractive, reducing the burden on states and sending a message to Washington.