Illegal Immigrant tuition bill opens rift in Republican party

The Miami Herald reports:

Gov. Rick Scott was just about to kick into gear his Hispanic outreach campaign when two top Republicans in the Florida Senate complicated the effort by unexpectedly blocking a priority bill that would give in-state tuition rates to some undocumented immigrants.

The abrupt procedural move by Senate President Don Gaetz and Senate budget chairman Joe Negron on Thursday caught Scott unaware along with fellow House Republicans and the party’s most respected former governor, Gov. Jeb Bush, who had privately asked some senators to hear the measure.

In a rare joint public statement, Bush, Scott and another former Republican governor, Bob Martinez, on Friday urged the Senate to take up the bill, which has majority support in the chamber.

One former governor stands to benefit the most from the Senate’s failure to take up the measure: Charlie Crist, a Democrat running against Scott who wants to keep Hispanics, the state’s fastest-growing demographic, voting against the GOP.

“It’s just sad that Rick Scott’s failed leadership means that some of our state’s best and brightest immigrants may still be denied access to in-state tuition,” Crist said in a statement.

We encourage all out of state students going to any college that gives illegals in-state tuition to sue for denial of equal protection under the law.