Thread: Florida DREAM Act killed

Florida DREAM Act killed

By By Brandon Henry
Staff writer
Published: Tuesday, March 20, 2012
Updated: Tuesday, March 20, 2012 22:03

Undocumented college students must continue to pay out-of-state tuition at Florida colleges.

After a 4-3 vote in the Florida Senate Judiciary Committee last month, the Florida DREAM Act was struck down.

The act would have guaranteed undocumented students in Florida in-state tuition when attending a public college or university.

With the Florida DREAM Act defeated, undocumented students must continue to pay almost three times what Florida residents pay for their college tuition.

Maria Barbero, a senior majoring in communications and philosophy, is disappointed with the decision.

“In my opinion, there is an urgent need for changing the current policy, as we are looking at a particularly inhumane system,” she said.

Barbero, who is a member of Southwest Florida PODER (People’s Organization Defending People’s Rights), goes on to point out the high number of undocumented students graduating at Florida high schools.

“It is estimated that each year, about 3,000 undocumented students graduate from Florida high schools,” she said. “Unlike the students of many other states, Florida students are facing a particularly hard situation in which they need to pay out-of-state tuition at public universities. Some students are able to somehow pay this tuition. However, given that most undocumented students cannot gain employment, the current policy actively works to deny access to higher education to a majority of undocumented students.”

Barbero also clarified the differences between the Federal DREAM Act and the Florida DREAM Act.

The Florida DREAM Act, she says, would only guarantee in-state tuition for undocumented students who can prove Florida residency. The Federal DREAM Act “would actually provide a path toward adjustment of status for undocumented persons who migrated to the U.S at young ages and complete two years of college or military service and a series of other requirements.”

Whichever the case, opponents of the DREAM Act cite that the passage of such a bill will only promote illegal immigration to the United States.

Florida Sen. Marco Rubio told Fox News that the DREAM Act is “the wrong way to do the right thing.”

“Instead, my hope is to come up with a bi-partisan solution to this problem,” Rubio said. “One that does not reward or encourage illegal immigration by granting amnesty, but helps accommodate talented young people who find themselves undocumented through no fault of their own.”

In a later interview with Geraldo Rivera, Rubio pointed out that the DREAM Act would lead to “chain migration.”

“You’re not only helping kids, but once a kid becomes a citizen, they can now act as an anchor to bring in their entire family through the process,” he said. “And that means that the DREAM Act is not limited to the kids, but it could be expanded to millions of people, which is problematic.

“But I do think that there is another way to deal with this, and I think that one of the debates we need to begin to have is that there is a difference between path to citizenship and legalization.”

Mitt Romney, the current Republican frontrunner for president, is also an outspoken critic of the DREAM Act.

Romney stated at a recent GOP debate that he would veto the act if he was elected president, given that “provisions included in that act say that people who were here illegally - if they go to school here long enough, if they get a degree here *— then they can become permanent residents.”

Dr. Richard Coughlin, professor of political science, thinks the argument by critics is invalid.

“The argument that is made about adults who are undocumented migrants is that they transgressed U.S. immigration policy, that they entered the United States in a legally unauthorized fashion, and so we should not provide an amnesty for undocumented migrants,” Coughlin said.

“But we have to make an exception in the case of children that were brought here. Because they weren’t adults, they can’t be seen as responsible for making those decisions to come to the United States.”

Florida DREAM Act killed - News - Eagle News - The Student Media Group at Florida Gulf Coast University

Maria Barbero, a senior majoring in communications and philosophy, is disappointed with the decision.

“In my opinion, there is an urgent need for changing the current policy, as we are looking at a particularly inhumane system,” she said.

Inhumane? Oh my God what a stretch! LOL

Children grow up and it seems a lot of illegal residents have been receiving the benefits paid by legal citizens for a long time. They are not entitled to the same benefits that legal citizens are entitled to and their parents put them into that position. They can attend the University in Mexico City for free it they are citizens of Mexico.

“It is estimated that each year, about 3,000 undocumented students graduate from Florida high schools,” she said. “Unlike the students of many other states, Florida students are facing a particularly hard situation in which they need to pay out-of-state tuition at public universities. Some students are able to somehow pay this tuition. However, given that most undocumented students cannot gain employment, the current policy actively works to deny access to higher education to a majority of undocumented students.”

Oh please! If that were true...why are you still here? How on earth did you survive all these years? Oh yea, Mommy and Daddy robbed LEGAL citizens of every penney they could!

These kids should HAVE to pay the same rates as Foreign students, they ARE NOT legal citizens.