Many of the policies impeding undocumented immigrants ability to
receive a college education could be repealed in the near
future.
Similar to a California bill passed last October, a U.S. Senate
bill sponsored by Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, would allow certain
undocumented aliens to become citizens after graduating from a U.S.
high school.
The bill, currently waiting for a vote in the Senate, would also
allow states to decide whether undocumented students could be
considered state residents for tuition purposes, lowering the cost
of college.
“I sincerely hope that we can all agree that the status
quo is unacceptable,” Hatch said before the Senate judiciary
committee, according to office records. “We cannot sit idly
by while more minds and potential go to waste.”
Hatch’s bill, known as the Development, Relief, and
Education for Alien Minors of 2002 Act, would allow undocumented
students who live in the United States for five years prior to
graduation from high school to apply for U.S. citizenship under a
special rule.
If passed, only students who are between the ages of 12 and 21
years old at the time would be able to apply. Students enrolled at
a U.S. college or university would be able to apply if they met
these criteria any time in the four years before the bill’s
passage.
Hatch said the bill is intended mainly to help the children of
illegal immigrants who have already been raised in the United
States and not people crossing the border today.
While the bill has received support from both Democrats and
Republicans, some nonprofit groups argue this bill will undermine
current immigration policy.
“The bill sends a message that we aren’t serious
about immigration control in the United States,” said David
Ray, a spokesman for the Federation for American Immigration
Reform.
Ray said FAIR is mainly involved with educating the public about
immigration issues, though they are actively lobbying senators to
vote against this bill.
The organization estimates that 25,000 students would be granted
green cards every year if the bill is passed.
The office of the U.S. Attorney General would review all
applications and determine whether an immigrant is qualified under
this law to become a citizen.
To qualify, a student must also be “a person of good moral
character,” according to the bill. While the clause would be
up to interpretation, Hatch said students convicted of possessing a
controlled substance or other yet-to-be-defined crimes would
violate this requirement.
The bill was approved by the Senate judiciary committee in June,
but Sen. Robert Byrd, D-WV, blocked a motion in July to bring the
bill to a vote in the Senate because he wanted more time to review
the bill.
He did not say whether he would prevent future attempts to
consider the bill, according to a spokeswoman in his office.
The Senate is adjourned until Sept. 3, but Hatch hopes the bill
can be passed before November’s elections with bipartisan
support, according to spokeswoman Margarita Tapia.
During committee deliberations, Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-CA,
supported moving the bill for a final vote.
“She thought the bill was consistent with what the people
of California were trying to do at state level,” said Howard
Gantman, a spokesman for Feinstein.
If current legislation passed by the state legislature and
approved by the University of California Board of Regents is an
accurate gauge of what Californians want, then Feinstein’s
assessment is correct.
The California Legislature passed Assembly Bill 540 in October
2001, which allows out-of-state and immigrant students who spent
three years at a California high school and graduated to pay only
in-state student fees.
This will save qualifying UC students $12,009 in additional fees
this year.
The law gets around a 1996 federal law prohibiting states from
allowing undocumented students to pay in-state tuition fees unless
any U.S. citizen could qualify for the same benefits. Because
residents of any state can meet the requirements, California law
does not violate the federal prohibition.
At the UC, most of the students qualifying for lower fees under
AB 540 were U.S. citizens who are residents of other states,
according to UC spokesman Hanan Eisenman.
The DREAM Act would repeal the 1996 law, making it easier for
states to allow undocumented students to pay in-state tuition.
This, in turn, would make it easier for undocumented students to
be able to afford a college education.
FAIR questions why undocumented students should be given tax
breaks while the economy is slumping.
“At a time when state budgets are tight, it just
doesn’t make good fiscal sense to give financial breaks to
students whose outright existence in this country violates
immigration laws,” Ray said.
Two other states ““ Utah and Texas ““ have already
passed laws allowing long-term undocumented students to pay
in-state tuition. The Utah law, however, will only go into effect
if federal law is changed.
In the House of Representatives, another Utah lawmaker, Chris
Cannon, R-Utah, is trying to make the necessary changes to federal
law.
Cannon said it is “ridiculous policy” to provide
public education to undocumented aliens through high school and
then require them to pay out-of-state fees against the
state’s desires.
Though he introduced the bill over a year ago, Cannon’s
bill H.R. 1918 has yet to move forward in the House.
He is currently considering packaging the bill with other
legislation to help it get approved.