Page 1 of 2 12 LastLast
Results 1 to 10 of 12
Like Tree1Likes

Thread: Texas was first to pass a state ‘Dream Act’

Thread Information

Users Browsing this Thread

There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)

  1. #1
    Senior Member JohnDoe2's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2008
    Location
    PARADISE (San Diego)
    Posts
    99,040

    Texas was first to pass a state ‘Dream Act’ (In 2001)

    The Truth-O-Meter Says:



    Says Texas passed a state ‘Dream Act’ before any other state.


    Juan Hernández on Thursday, November 8th, 2012 in a Dallas Morning News blog post


    Juan Hernández says Texas was first to pass a state ‘Dream Act’ (In 2001)


    Texas’ political future isn’t necessarily painted Democratic blue, according to Juan Hernández, the co-founder of Hispanic Republicans of Texas.

    Asked by the Dallas Morning News in a Nov. 8, 2012, interview whether demographics will soon change the state’s Republican hue, Hernández said, "No, because I see Texas [Republicans] moving very quickly to incorporating Hispanics." Among his examples: "Texas passed a state DREAM Act before any other state in the nation," he said. "So Texas is different."

    By phone, Hernández confirmed that he was talking about a law PolitiFact Texas has examined several times. In 2001, Texas lawmakers passed (almost unanimously) and Gov. Rick Perry signed into law a measure allowing certain immigrants brought illegally to the United States as children to attend state colleges and universities at the tuition rates charged to legal in-state residents.

    Hernández, a Fort Worth native and Mexican-U.S. studies professor who was tapped in 2001 to be Mexico’s special adviser on migrant affairs, said he was among many who supported the legislation.

    Though sometimes called the "Texas Dream Act," the law is much narrower in scope than the national DREAM Act proposed in various forms since 2001.

    The federal Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors Act, said a June 22, 2012, PolitiFact story, also pertains to certain children brought to the United States illegally by parents or relatives. But the national legislation would create a new way to give those immigrants legal status and avoid deportation, if they have stayed out of trouble and were in school or the military.

    State law does not (and cannot) change their legal status. Texas’ law only requires that the students sign an affidavit saying they intend to apply for permanent residency as soon as they're able to do so.

    Twelve other states have tuition laws like Texas’, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures website, enacted in the wake of the 1996 Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act.

    One provision in the act sought to prevent states from giving a tuition benefit to illegal immigrants that is not available to all legal U.S. residents -- that is, legal residents of other states, who pay a higher "out-of-state" rate. But the language was unclear, the NCSL site said, and "there is no guidance in congressional report language or in federal regulations."

    Some states reacted by passing laws to allow the tuition benefit for certain illegal immigrants -- typically those who had attended high school in the state and intended to apply for citizenship. Other states, the NCSL site said, passed legislation banning illegal immigrants from getting in-state tuition rates.

    Both types of law have been challenged in court. The national DREAM Act includes language to repeal the murky federal provision.

    Was Texas first to put the tuition benefit into law?

    Yes. "In June 2001, Texas (HB 1403) was the first state to pass legislation allowing in-state tuition for immigrant students," says the NCSL site in a report updated Nov. 28, 2012.

    Next, it says, were California, Utah and New York in 2001-02; Washington and Illinois in 2003; Kansas in 2004; New Mexico in 2005; Nebraska in 2006; Wisconsin in 2009; Maryland and Connecticut in 2011. Oklahoma granted the benefit in 2004, then rescinded it in 2008.

    Texas barely edged out California, though. According to California’s legislative information site, Assembly Bill 540 was approved by both Senate and Assembly on Sept. 14, 2001, then signed by Gov. Gray Davis on Oct. 12, 2001.

    Texas House and Senate journals for the 2001 session show that versions of House Bill 1403 cleared House and Senate education panels with no opposition. The House passed the measure 142-1 on April 23, 2001; the Senate amended it, then approved it 27-3 on May 21, 2001.

    Three days later, the House approved the Senate's changes 130-2. Perry signed the measure into law June 16, 2001.

    Was this state law a "Dream Act," even though it could not change students’ legal status?

    Perry spoke of the "Texas dream" in a speech soon after he signed the law, telling the Southwest Voters Registration Education Project that he approved it "so that young Texans who graduated from our public schools, regardless of their immigration status, will be able to pay in‑state tuition and take part in the Texas dream. We want bright, new Texans to stay here, and contribute great things to our future."

    A Nov. 15, 2011, Austin American-Statesman news story said the Texas law is "commonly referred to as the Texas Dream Act."

    We trawled through more news stories on Nexis.com, where the first such reference we spotted was a 2004 description of "Texas’ Dream Act." Thereafter, we found many in other states, usually referring to similar in-state tuition proposals.



    In California and New York, however, stories from 2007 through 2011 reserved the term for legislation going further than the tuition laws already on those states’ books -- granting eligibility for financial aid or drivers’ licenses, for example.

    Hernández agreed the Texas law is not equivalent to the national legislation. When he was helping advocate the state law, he told us, "we didn’t call it the Dream Act."
    But there is common ground, he said. "We’re talking about the same kids, and we’re talking about finding ways to live a life in this nation," he said. "I think that’s why many of us say it’s a type of Dream Act."

    Our ruling

    Hernández said Texas was the first to pass a state DREAM Act.

    Texas was the first state to permit in-state tuition for certain children in the country illegally. But like other states’ laws, its measure did not -- could not -- go as far as federal versions offering a possible path to citizenship. The state laws are not DREAM acts. We rate the claim Mostly True.



    PolitiFact Texas | Juan Hernández says Texas was first to pass a state
    Last edited by JohnDoe2; 04-06-2015 at 11:54 PM.
    NO AMNESTY

    Don't reward the criminal actions of millions of illegal aliens by giving them citizenship.


    Sign in and post comments here.

    Please support our fight against illegal immigration by joining ALIPAC's email alerts here https://eepurl.com/cktGTn

  2. #2
    Administrator ALIPAC's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2004
    Location
    Gheen, Minnesota, United States
    Posts
    67,681
    In 2001, Texas became one of the first states to pass in-state tuition for illegal aliens aka Dream Act Amnesty because of the following factors...

    A. Most of the lawmakers did not know those provisions were in the bill.

    B. There was no significant discussion or debate between lawmakers about such provisions in the bill.

    and

    C. The American citizens in Texas had no idea that provision was in the bill prior to the vote because there was no significant media coverage or public debate prior to the vote and there were no groups like ALIPAC in a position to spot the legislation and warn the press, lawmakers, and public.

    If there had been an open debate about this provision in 2001 BEFORE THE VOTE this bill would have failed or lawmakers would have removed the provision from the bill since over 80% of Americans and Texans OPPOSE in-state tuition for illegal immigrants.

    W
    Join our efforts to Secure America's Borders and End Illegal Immigration by Joining ALIPAC's E-Mail Alerts network (CLICK HERE)

  3. #3
    Senior Member JohnDoe2's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2008
    Location
    PARADISE (San Diego)
    Posts
    99,040
    Instate tuition for ILLEGAL aliens will no longer be a problem because the FEDERAL government is giving greencards and social security cards to the DREAMERS by the millions and they will all now qualify as legal residents.
    NO AMNESTY

    Don't reward the criminal actions of millions of illegal aliens by giving them citizenship.


    Sign in and post comments here.

    Please support our fight against illegal immigration by joining ALIPAC's email alerts here https://eepurl.com/cktGTn

  4. #4
    Senior Member JohnDoe2's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2008
    Location
    PARADISE (San Diego)
    Posts
    99,040
    NO AMNESTY

    Don't reward the criminal actions of millions of illegal aliens by giving them citizenship.


    Sign in and post comments here.

    Please support our fight against illegal immigration by joining ALIPAC's email alerts here https://eepurl.com/cktGTn

  5. #5
    Senior Member JohnDoe2's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2008
    Location
    PARADISE (San Diego)
    Posts
    99,040
    NO AMNESTY

    Don't reward the criminal actions of millions of illegal aliens by giving them citizenship.


    Sign in and post comments here.

    Please support our fight against illegal immigration by joining ALIPAC's email alerts here https://eepurl.com/cktGTn

  6. #6
    Senior Member JohnDoe2's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2008
    Location
    PARADISE (San Diego)
    Posts
    99,040
    NO AMNESTY

    Don't reward the criminal actions of millions of illegal aliens by giving them citizenship.


    Sign in and post comments here.

    Please support our fight against illegal immigration by joining ALIPAC's email alerts here https://eepurl.com/cktGTn

  7. #7
    Senior Member JohnDoe2's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2008
    Location
    PARADISE (San Diego)
    Posts
    99,040
    NO AMNESTY

    Don't reward the criminal actions of millions of illegal aliens by giving them citizenship.


    Sign in and post comments here.

    Please support our fight against illegal immigration by joining ALIPAC's email alerts here https://eepurl.com/cktGTn

  8. #8
    Senior Member JohnDoe2's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2008
    Location
    PARADISE (San Diego)
    Posts
    99,040
    NO AMNESTY

    Don't reward the criminal actions of millions of illegal aliens by giving them citizenship.


    Sign in and post comments here.

    Please support our fight against illegal immigration by joining ALIPAC's email alerts here https://eepurl.com/cktGTn

  9. #9
    Senior Member JohnDoe2's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2008
    Location
    PARADISE (San Diego)
    Posts
    99,040
    NO AMNESTY

    Don't reward the criminal actions of millions of illegal aliens by giving them citizenship.


    Sign in and post comments here.

    Please support our fight against illegal immigration by joining ALIPAC's email alerts here https://eepurl.com/cktGTn

  10. #10
    Senior Member JohnDoe2's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2008
    Location
    PARADISE (San Diego)
    Posts
    99,040
    NO AMNESTY

    Don't reward the criminal actions of millions of illegal aliens by giving them citizenship.


    Sign in and post comments here.

    Please support our fight against illegal immigration by joining ALIPAC's email alerts here https://eepurl.com/cktGTn

Page 1 of 2 12 LastLast

Tags for this Thread

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •