Wyoming Needs to Rein-In Wild Horse of an Idea

Wyoming’s state capitol of Cheyenne retains an authentic Old West feel of the days when rugged pioneers arrived to mine, farm, and ranch its untamed frontier. Perhaps this rich heritage is what inspires one lawmaker who is currently flirting with the idea of beckoning brand new settlers to Wyoming; unfortunately this time, the settlers are illegal aliens.

State Rep. Ryan Berger, R-Evanston, has proposed allowing illegal aliens to qualify for in-state tuition at the University of Wyoming and all community colleges. His proposal has not yet been drafted into a bill and won’t be heard in committee until August. Common sense would suggest that even if it does get traction, the idea faces stiff resistance in the next session of Wyoming’s overwhelmingly Republican legislature.

That said, note that Berger is a Republican.

Nowadays, nothing is out of the realm of possibility, so Berger’s Big Idea bears watching because if passed it would fuel more illegal immigration. While Wyoming’s illegal alien population is relatively small (8,000, costing taxpayers $45.2 million annually) that’s still more than zero which should be the objective. And as FAIR’s 2020 research notes, “States with smaller overall populations actually experience a proportionally greater effect from migrant influxes because such states typically have fewer jobs available and condensed economies, making it harder to absorb newcomers.”

Just as important is the fundamental unfairness of providing taxpayer-subsidized college tuition to illegal aliens which is really a piecemealed normalization of illegal aliens with amnesty as the ultimate goal, disguised as an educational “equity” initiative.

College admission slots are fixed, and some states are even reducing admissions as a result of budget cutbacks. Thus, every illegal alien who is admitted to college because they are able to take advantage of discounted in-state tuition effectively takes one of those slots away from an American student or legal resident.

Rep. Berger need not fret that doors are being shut on illegal aliens.  To the contrary; educational opportunities already abound for them. The Supreme Court in 1982 ruled that regardless of legal status all kids are entitled to a K-12 taxpayer-subsidized education. Beyond that, opportunities to attend college exist because many schools — especially community colleges — ignore legal status. Illegal alien students can attend college but it is unfair to reward them with in-state tuition discounts for doing so.

Besides, why would Wyoming taxpayers want to subsidize in-state tuition for illegal aliens when, as stipulated by 8 U.S. Code § 1324a — Unlawful employment of aliens, it’s against the law for them to work. That is, unless, the push for in-state tuition is the first step to the larger agenda of granting even more benefits and enacting broad amnesty…which it usually is.

To be fair, Rep. Berger has cautioned that if his bill runs the risk of incentivizing illegal immigration to Wyoming, “that’s not a road (he) wants to go down.”

That’s promising, so maybe his next step should be to take a field trip to any of the 23 other states currently offering this benefit and observe incrementalism – the Pandora’s Box he’s about to open. Lawmakers in those states initially claimed that in-state tuition for illegal aliens was all they wanted, but then quickly pushed to open up access to the full spectrum of loans, grants and scholarships. American students applying for assistance now compete against illegal alien students for aid to attend college in those states.  Since most of these illegal alien students and their families are on the lower end of the economic scale, they disproportionally qualify for needs-based federal/state financial aid to the detriment of low-income, aspiring American students.

One benefit begets another. What started as in-state tuition “only” in many of these states created social pressure to extend other benefits such as driver’s licenses and sweeping sanctuary policies. It’s no surprise then that every one of the 23 states offering the same type of in-state tuition Berger would like to offer in Wyoming, have seen increases in their illegal alien populations.

Best to leave well enough alone in Wyoming. Before he tinkers much more, Rep. Berger would also do well to consider further advice from FAIR’s 2020 report:

“With the government beginning to settle more immigrants in America’s small towns and rural communities, how long will it be before rural states experience the increased crime, overburdened health care systems, swamped public schools and overwhelming government debt that currently plague places like New York and California?”

Is that a potential future the great state of Wyoming really wants to gamble on?  Probably not, because one thing Western ranchers in the Cowboy state are known for saying is, “Don’t go in if you don’t know the way out.”