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State GOP Says No To In-State Tuition, Drivers Cards For Undocumented Immigrants

Speaker Vos Offers Holiday For Cesar Chavez If A Reagan Day Comes With

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Wisconsin State Capitol

Republican state lawmakers signal they will not pass a series of measures requested by some Latino groups.

Last week, Democratic state Rep. JoCasta Zamarripa, D-Milwaukee, flanked by several Latino organizations, unveiled three items they hope the Legislature will pass early this year. The items include restoring in-state college tuition for youths brought to Wisconsin by their undocumented parents, allowing the Department of Transportation to offer a temporary drivers card for undocumented residents and a voluntary state holiday honoring labor leader Cesar Chavez.

Assembly Speaker Robin Vos says he made Zamarippa an offer about the Chavez holiday: “I said to her that I would be willing to consider the Cesar Chavez holiday if we also put one in in February for Ronald Reagan.

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“People who would say, ‘Look, I believe I’m a conservative; I want to celebrate Ronald Reagan’s birthday,’” Vos continued, “[and] people who are more liberal or socialist, activist like Cesar Chavez, they can celebrate that one. [Zamarripa] wasn’t interested in that.”

Vos says there’s also a condition attached to the drivers card issue.

“One of the concerns a lot of us have had is that we want that drivers licenses to be used as a photo ID when you go to vote,” he said. “We certainly don’t want people who are here illegally to be able to vote.”

And Vos is also nixing the idea of restoring in-state tuition: “I certainly believe that taxpayer subsidies shouldn’t go to people who aren’t here legally and certainly can’t stay after they graduate from college.”

Vos spoke Monday in Milwaukee at a largely Latino religious school for elementary and middle school students.