Feb. 12, 2014 5:21 PM
Chas Sisk

A Senate committee put off debate on a bill that would give in-state tuition to undocumented immigrants who came to Tennessee as children, but it approved a related measure that would let state universities count the American-born children of undocumented immigrants as residents.

The Senate Education Committee agreed Wednesday afternoon to delay debate Senate Bill 1951, which would qualify undocumented immigrants who move to Tennessee before high school and meet academic standards for in-state tuition to the University of Tennessee and Tennessee Board of Regents systems. The bill’s sponsor, state Sen. Todd Gardenhire, asked for the delay, citing a clerical error in the measure’s wording.

But committee members debated and approved Senate Bill 2115, a bill that would extend in-state tuition to the children of undocumented immigrants who are themselves U.S. citizens. Under current Tennessee law, dependents of undocumented immigrants cannot receive in-state tuition.

Opponents wondered if the children of undocumented immigrants should be considered citizens, and they said giving them in-state tuition would be unfair to parents who live out of state.

Gardenhire said Tennessee will benefit if children from undocumented families receive college degrees. He urged lawmakers to set aside their feelings about immigration policy.

“This is a problem that’s hurting us economically,” he said. “Never before have we punished children for what their parents did or did not do.”

http://www.tennessean.com/article/20...mented-delayed