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From the issue dated May 8, 2009
The Chronicle of Higher Education
In-State Tuition for Undocumented Students: Not Quite Yet
Congress likely to hold legislation for inclusion in larger package on immigration
By MEGAN ECKSTEIN
Washington

Members of Congress are gearing up for a battle over educational benefits for undocumented students.

At issue is the Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors, or Dream, Act, which would allow states to charge illegal immigrants in-state tuition and would provide a multistep path to citizenship for some residents who were brought to the United States illegally as children.

Supporters say the bill, which was introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate on March 26, is the fairest way to deal with undocumented students and would strengthen the economy by creating a more educated work force. Opponents say it would reward bad behavior, fueling further waves of illegal immigration.

While the bill has failed several times since 2001, supporters and opponents of the measure say it stands a good chance of passing this year, given President Obama's support (As a senator, he was a cosponsor in 2007) and the large Democratic majorities in both houses of Congress.

But there are still plenty of lawmakers who fiercely oppose the bill, and members of Congress face many competing priorities. Even if the bill clears committee, it will have to compete with energy and health care for floor time. And if the measure is attached to a broader immigration bill, as it was in 2007, and as many lawmakers support doing again, it could get bogged down in debates over earned citizenship versus amnesty.

The faltering economy could also work against the bill. With so many citizens out of work, "the argument that we need to legalize the workers who are already here doesn't really carry much weight," argues Kris W. Kobach, a law professor at the University of Missouri at Kansas City who has challenged Kansas and California state laws granting in-state tuition to illegal immigrants.

Still, supporters of the bill are confident that this is their year. Those who already supported the bill are eager to see it pass, and groups traditionally opposed to the measure — many Republicans and some more-conservative Democrats — are increasingly open to broader immigration reform, supporters say.

"The politics of immigration have shifted," argues Joseph Zogby, chief counsel to Sen. Richard J. Durbin, a Democrat from Illinois and a sponsor of the bill.

Support Among New Leadership

The biggest thing that has changed in the last two years is, of course, the administration. In 2007, President George W. Bush backed a broad immigration bill that included the Dream Act language, but he refused to back a Senate stand-alone bill after his measure failed in Congress. That led Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania to back away from the bill, saying its passage would derail future efforts at comprehensive reform. Senator Specter has been elected to the Senate five times as a Republican, but last week he announced he was switching parties and would run for re-election in 2010 as a Democrat. Given his past support for the Dream Act, this shift may be a sign he will once again vote for the bill.

President Obama, in contrast to his predecessor, has offered unqualified support for immigration reform and has appointed to government posts several officials who fought for the Dream Act's passage in 2007. They include Cecilia Muñoz, the White House's director of intergovernmental affairs and a former senior vice president of the National Council of La Raza's Office of Research, Advocacy, and Legislation.

Meanwhile, supporters and opponents of the bill are watching to see how new members of Congress respond to the Dream Act. While both chambers have a stronger Democratic presence than they did in 2007, immigration is an issue that doesn't always divide lawmakers along party lines.

There are many Republicans who strongly support the bill, including Sen. Richard G. Lugar of Indiana, who introduced the bill with Senator Durbin, a Democrat. And there are a number of young, newly elected Democrats who campaigned on anti-amnesty platforms and are, in some cases, more conservative on immigration than the Republicans they unseated.

"This is not an issue where you can simply count Democratic noses and figure out if there's enough support," says Mr. Kobach, the law professor.

Lawmakers are "more concerned with their own survival than what their colleague across the hall is doing," he said.

Mr. Zogby, the aide to Senator Durbin, disagrees. He said all key Democratic committee chairmen support the bill, and pointed out that Sen. Harry Reid, the majority leader, cosponsored the original Dream Act bill introduced in 2001 by Sen. Orrin Hatch, Republican of Utah. That "sends a strong message to the Democratic caucus," he said.

Few lawmakers are neutral when it comes to the Dream Act. Those who back the bill will tell heartbreaking stories of students who fought to excel in high school only to learn that they wouldn't be able to attend college, either because their state barred illegal immigrants from its public colleges or because they couldn't access the student aid they needed to pay for higher education.

"The fundamental question is, do we punish children for the decisions of their parents?" asked Sen. Robert Menendez, Democrat of New Jersey, at a College Board news conference on the bill. "When their parents came to the United States, they didn't have a choice to stay behind and wait for their papers to come through. It's hard to fill out immigration papers when you're in a stroller."

Meanwhile, those opposed to the bill will warn that it is the first step toward mass amnesty for people who broke American laws and would cause the population to balloon as relatives of new citizens flock to the United States.

"The problem with this legislation is that it extends government benefits to people illegally in the United States," said Sen. Lamar Alexander, Republican of Tennessee, who sits on the Senate education committee and formerly served as U.S. education secretary, in a written statement. "We cannot restore a system of legal immigration — which is the real American dream — if we undermine it by granting new benefits to those who are here illegally."

Against that backdrop, supporters of the bill are seeking new cosponsors. "The shifting demographic in the Senate especially means new votes to mine," said Adey Fisseha, interim federal policy director for the National Immigration Law Center.

Time Is Running Out

For undocumented students approaching high-school graduation, time is of the essence. "Every year you wait, you are losing students," said Matias Ramos, an undocumented student who is about to graduate from the University of California at Los Angeles, at the College Board news conference. He said students start giving up in school and abandoning their dreams of a college education when they see that the barriers are not going away.

Another undocumented student at the event, who asked to be identified only by her initials, J.P., said she personally cannot wait much longer for the bill to pass. She was offered a great job right out of college, but she had to turn it down because of her legal status — her family had traveled to the United States from Seoul, South Korea, when she was young, and never left when the visa expired. She enrolled in graduate school to buy herself some more time, but in May, "once I graduate, there's absolutely nothing for me to do," she said. J.P. said some illegal immigrants are patient enough to wait indefinitely for legal status, but for her, "America's not the only country in the world, and I don't want to be in a place that doesn't want me."

But the bill's opponents say the time is right to move in the opposite direction. The Federation for American Immigration Reform, which advocates for reduced immigration, believes that the measure will not pass any time soon because many Americans are frustrated with the economy. Bob Dane, a spokesman for the foundation, argues that the bill is "fundamentally unfair" for poor U.S. citizens and legal residents, who are losing jobs to illegal immigrants and facing lower wages and worse work conditions because of the downward pressure illegal immigrants put on the work force. Americans "are going to make sure the next bailout isn't for illegal immigrants," he said.

Advocates on both sides of the debate are vying for the public's support. Rep. Luis V. Gutierrez, Democrat of Illinois, has traveled from church to church across the country, speaking to Latino communities to build a grass-roots movement for the bill.

Ms. Fisseha said Americans really seem to like the ideals behind the bill, especially the concept of pulling oneself up by the bootstraps.

"As a nation, we like people who excel," she said. "And that's what these students show."

She also said that the bill supports the military — the bill's beneficiaries could earn legal residency by completing two years of college or serving two years in the military — which appeals to some conservative legislators, and that the increasingly politically powerful youth voters have latched onto the Dream Act.

The opposition is seeking grass-roots support as well. Conservative talk-radio hosts were overwhelmingly against the Dream Act in 2007, and opponents are counting on them to build a movement against the bill this time around, too.

The Bill's Status

As of now, it is unclear whether the bill will be considered on its own or wrapped into a broader immigration package.

The Senate's bill has been referred to the Judiciary Committee, which last week discussed how to approach comprehensive immigration reform. A Senate staff member, who spoke on condition of anonymity because key committees hadn't yet taken official stances on the Dream Act, said it would be difficult for Congress to take up a small piece of immigration legislation without it "snowballing into a larger discussion on comprehensive immigration reform."

The Democratic strategy could become clearer in the next couple of months, after a planned immigration summit by Mr. Obama, said Ms. Fisseha. If a broader package fails, Congress could still try to take up the measure as a stand-alone.

"If, as we try to pursue comprehensive immigration reform, we cannot get this simple element done, I'm not sure what we can" do, said Senator Menendez at the news conference. "This should be the most fundamental of all of the immigration-related issues."

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Section: Government & Politics
Volume 55, Issue 35, Page A19