Our View: State still has a 'Dream Act'

It's common sense that government should obey its own laws. Yet the California government violated its own laws against illegal immigration when it passed Assembly Bill 131 last year, and it was signed into law by Gov. Jerry Brown. The law, actually the second part of what is called the California Dream Act, allowed illegal immigrants who graduate from a California high school to receive college financial aid paid for by taxpayers.

A movement to repeal AB131 quickly started, but it fizzled out Jan. 6. That was the deadline to get the 504,760 signatures required to place a repeal initiative on the November ballot. Assemblyman Tim Donnelly, R-Hesperia, who led the effort, announced that only 447,514 signatures had been gathered.

For many years, we have favored some sort of guest-worker program, or other such reform, to normalize the status of illegal immigrants in this country. That certainly is better than rounding them up wholesale, which would require a great violation of the civil liberties of everyone, including citizens.

But we believe that AB131 short-circuited the normal democratic process for dealing with a complex problem. It's especially troubling that it was passed at a time when the state continues to suffer acute budget problems.

AB131 was a companion law to the less-controversial AB130, which allows private scholarships for illegal-immigrant students.

"We are not finished with this fight," Donnelly announced after throwing in the towel. "This is just the beginning." He wrote on his website, "We may have failed in this first battle, but we will not give up in the war to save California from the reckless politicians who want to raise our taxes to put the college dreams of illegals ahead of our own children. ... This one loss will not dampen our resolve." He promised that a future effort for another repeal initiative would be launched.

"I have no idea what else can be done," says Dan Catania of the Lincoln-based Tea Party United, who collected petitions for the initiative. "This thing is going to devastate California. It will cost millions of millions of dollars. They will have to build more classrooms. In-state kids will have an even tougher time getting in classes. It's occurring as tuition and taxes are rising. It's just another magnet for people from all over the world to come here illegally."

AB131's author, Assemblyman Gil Cedillo, D-Los Angeles, was enthusiastic about the failure of the repeal initiative. "The lesson is clear. California is a state that leads our nation forward, not backward," he said in a statement.

But a state that's effectively broke isn't exactly a great example for a national government that's also broke. Cedillo and his fellow Democrats, including Gov. Jerry Brown, would be more convincing on issues like this if they advanced pro-business polices that broadened the tax base, instead of the opposite. A broke state can't help its own citizens, let alone immigrants here illegally.