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The Arkansas House of Representatives voted 63-31 to pass a bill that would allow illegal aliens who graduate from Arkansas high schools to qualify for in-state tuition rates and taxpayer-funded state scholarships at state universities. "We have allowed these kids to dream," said Rep. Joyce Elliott, D-Little Rock, in support of her House Bill 1525. "We have put them in our schools, we have urged them to dream, and then we cut them off the moment they get out of high school." While seven lawmakers spoke in support of the bill during debate on the House floor, the measure drew silence from opponents. None of the 31 lawmakers who voted against the bill chose to speak against it. "I think most minds were made up," said Rep. Mike Kenney, R-Siloam Springs, who voted against it. "Speaking for myself, I didn’t see any point in belaboring the issue. It wasn’t going to change any minds." Gov. Mike Huckabee, who included the bill in his legislative package, drew a contrast between Wednesday’s vote in support of illegal immigrants and the state’s handling of the 1957 desegregation of Little Rock’s Central High School. "They took a stand that Arkansas can be proud of," Huckabee said in describing the House. "I think if we had taken a similar one in 1957, it would have made us proud for a long, long time." [more]