Thread: Washington approves college grants for illegal aliens

Washington approves college grants for illegal aliens

By JONATHAN KAMINSKY
February 19, 2014

The move signals a shift among Republicans in a state with a growing Latino population

Washington State Governor Jay Inslee.
(REUTERS/Cliff DesPeaux)

Washington state lawmakers have voted to make students brought to the United States illegally by their parents eligible for need-based college financial aid.

Passage of the measure, which supporters have labeled the Dream Act after failed U.S. legislation of 2010, marks a victory for immigrant-rights advocates and a shift within the state Republican party, whose members have blocked similar measures in recent years.

The bill, which passed the House by 75 to 22 votes on Tuesday, goes next to Governor Jay Inslee, a Democrat, who has promised to sign it. States that have enacted similar measures include California, Illinois, and Texas.

“This bill ensures that the young men and women we’ve invested in at our high schools and who aspire to become productive American citizens will now have fair access to the financial support they need,” Inslee said in a statement.

Last June, the U.S. Senate passed a comprehensive bill that would provide a path to citizenship for the approximately 11 million immigrants living in the United States illegally, while tightening border security.

The bill stalled in the U.S. House, and some conservative Republicans in both chambers remain opposed to offering legal status for adults who live in the United States unlawfully.

The Washington state bill’s passage signals a shift among Republicans in a state with a growing Latino population, particularly in many of its conservative-leaning rural districts.

As recently as last month, Republicans in the state Senate – a chamber the party controls with the backing of two dissident Democrats – dismissed the measure’s prospects as dim, saying it was low on their list of priorities.

But several of these lawmakers late last month introduced a version of the bill they labeled the Real Hope Act. That measure passed the chamber by a 35-10 vote, with unanimous Democratic support, Republicans split 10-10, and four Republicans abstaining.

In recent years, immigrant-rights advocates and Democratic lawmakers in Washington state have pushed similar measures, which were blocked by Republicans on the grounds they put undocumented immigrants on a level playing field with citizens.

The measure includes $5 million in additional State Need Grant funding, which some estimates suggest is enough to cover the roughly 1,000 undocumented immigrants the bill would make eligible for the aid.

Those immigrants will not be guaranteed help, however, as the new money will go into the existing statewide pot available to all eligible students.

In the 2012-2013 school year, roughly 32,000 otherwise qualified applicants were denied the aid because of a lack of funds, while 74,000 students received assistance, according to a non-partisan legislative staff report.

http://www.capitolhillblue.com/node/52131

Republicans who support the rewards will see themselves out of political power at some point.

Jonathan Kaminsky Reuters

5:20 p.m. CST, February 26, 2014

OLYMPIA, Washington (Reuters) - Washington became the fifth U.S. state to offer college financial aid to students brought into the country illegally as children, as Democratic Governor Jay Inslee signed legislation on Wednesday to make them eligible for state grants.

Inslee, in signing the bill to provide aid to students whose families meet income and residency guidelines, hailed it as a major victory for "thousands of bright, talented and very hard working students across the state of Washington."

"I've had some good days as governor of the state of Washington, but this may be the best," Inslee said. California, Illinois, Texas and New Mexico have passed similar measures.

Passage of the measure, dubbed by its supporters as the Dream Act of Washington state, marks a victory for immigrant-rights advocates and a shift within the state Republican party, whose members blocked a similar measure last year. The law is set to take effect in June.

Just last month, Republican state senators had signaled they would not pass the bill but in a sudden turnabout introduced their own version in the Republican-dominated upper chamber that included $5 million to help fund the existing, badly oversubscribed grant program.

The new money is expected to cover 1,200 new enrollees, which corresponds with lawmakers' estimate for the upper limit of students who will be eligible for aid under the new law.

However, students in the country illegally still face an uncertain future after graduation.

A bill that would have provided a path to citizenship for the approximately 11 million immigrants living in the United States illegally stalled in the Republican-controlled U.S. House of Representatives.

CHANGING DEMOGRAPHICS, MOVING PERSONAL STORIES

Changing demographics in Washington state has caused some Republicans to alter their stance on helping immigrants who came to the country illegally as children, said David Nice, a political science professor at Washington State University.

"Republicans are influenced by the continued growth of the Hispanic population, particularly in Republican areas of the state," Nice said.

Hispanics made up 11.2 percent of its population in 2010, up from 4.4 percent in 1990, according to U.S. Census figures.

Other analysts attribute the Republican shift to lobbying efforts that featured moving stories of how this financial aid would allow immigrants to go to college and secure a future.

"There aren't many (Washington state) Republicans who have to worry about a competing Latino vote right now," said Luis Fraga, a University of Washington political science professor. "It's more likely that their consciences were tapped by the humanity of the stories that they heard from the students."

The newly eligible immigrants will face a higher standard to qualify for aid than legal residents, said Jim West, a residency specialist at the Washington Student Achievement Council, which administers the financial aid.

While U.S. citizens must live in the state one year before qualifying, undocumented immigrant students will need to have attended at least three years of high school in the state and have earned a high school diploma or equivalent in the state.

In all cases, a qualifying student's family income must be below $57,500, or 70 percent of the state's median family income. Washington state has granted in-state tuition to otherwise qualified undocumented immigrants since 2003.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/s...,1224615.story

They have the votes to pass amnesty, we repeat... THEY HAVE THE VOTES TO PASS AMNESTY AND THEY WILL UNLESS YOU ACT!'

We need you to get on the phones now and call, call ,call! Tomorrow will be too late!

TAKE ACTION HERE!

http://www.alipac.us/f8/hit-em-hard-...3/#post1397276