Capital News Service Hundreds of immigrants converged at the State House Monday to press legislators to pass the Maryland DREAM Act, a bill that would allow students to pay in-state college tuition regardless of their immigration status, if they graduated from a Maryland high school and attended that school for at least two years.

"This is the future of Maryland," Gustavo Torres, director of the advocacy group Casa de Maryland, told the crowd. He added passage in Maryland could send a strong message to the nation. A similar proposal failed in Congress in December. A preliminary Senate vote is expected this week.

Torres and others also said they opposed anti-immigration laws being considered by the General Assembly. State Del. Pat McDonough, R-Baltimore County, introduced more than a dozen different bills targeting illegal immigration. McDonough said in a telephone interview he is opposed to the in-state tuition bill because it benefits people who don't have a lawful presence in the state. He says it would be expensive.

The state Department of Legislative Services estimates it could cost taxpayers about $3.5 million by fiscal year 2016. McDonough added that it could cause legal immigrants and Maryland students seeking acceptance to public universities to lose spots. "I think that's utterly unfair," McDonough said.

Casa de Maryland organized the demonstration, arranging for 38 buses to take demonstrators to the state capital.

Among the participants were students from several high schools, faith leaders and their congregations and small businesses and organizations, who met with legislators to express their concerns before rallying at Lawyer's Mall in front of the State House.

Demonstrators said the Maryland DREAM Act is critical because the higher out-of-state tuition rates have kept many illegal immigrants who attended Maryland high schools from attending college. According to the bill's fiscal note, the difference between in-state and out-of-state tuition rates for full-time undergraduates averages more than $10,000 a year, based on proposed fall 2011 rates.