Gov. Patrick to Tackle Immigration Reform in 2nd Term

We're not even two weeks out from the 2010 election and Governor Deval Patrick clued us in on a second-term priority at Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition’s annual Thanksgiving luncheon on Tuesday.

Governor Patrick is hoping to fully implement 131 immigration reform ideas suggested by an advisory panel in 2009, including offering in-state college tuition rates for illegal immigrant students. A totally unscientific, not to mention completely predictable, Boston Herald poll was 95%-3% against it. The poll (see the screenshot shown at right) could be an example of the Herald's political irrelevancy, as Barney Frank likes to say. But, we don't know how popular helping out illegal immigrants is, even in Massachusetts.

We're not against the idea. What we are against is repeating Governor Patrick's first term errors. Immigration reform is a serious issue, unlke the drapes or the Cadillac, however, his job now is the economy and jobs.