VA - Panel rejects in-state tuition for children of undocumented immigrants

Posted: Thursday, January 23, 2014 1:24 pm | Updated: 4:58 pm, Thu Jan 23, 2014.

BY MICHAEL MARTZ
Richmond Times-Dispatch

A Senate committee today defeated a proposal to allow in-state tuition rates for children of undocumented immigrants to attend Virginia public colleges and universities.

The Senate Education and Health Committee voted 7-6 to kill Senate Bill 249, proposed by Sen. A. Donald McEachin, D-Henrico, and Sen. Adam P. Ebbin, D-Alexandria.

It would have allowed in-state tuition rates for students who have lived in Virginia at least three years, graduated from a high school or received a GED in the state, and been granted deferred action by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security through a federal program to prevent deportation of the children of undocumented immigrants.

Committee Chairman Stephen H. Martin, R-Chesterfield, cast the decisive vote against the bill after saying earlier that he was "on the edge" about the proposal. Opponents blamed the federal government for not effectively enforcing immigration laws and dealing with the presence of millions of undocumented immigrants in the United States.

"Shame on the federal government and people from both parties," said Sen. Thomas A. Garrett Jr., R-Louisa.

Supporters said the state has waited long enough for a solution from Washington.

"Now we have a generation of students who been deprived of a reasonably priced, quality, higher education," said Sen. Janet D. Howell, D-Fairfax. "How long do they have to wait?"

http://www.timesdispatch.com/news/st...a4bcf6878.html

Posted by Mary Ann Barton (Editor) , January 23, 2014 at 09:43 PM
By Jason Spencer

Seven Republican state Senators have blocked a bill that would allow children of undocumented immigrants to receive in-state college tuition from moving forward in the upper chamber of the Virginia General Assembly.

The Senate Committee on Education and Health voted 6-7 down party lines Thursday morning to kill Virginia DREAM Act legislation, as it is known, which would have allowed students that had been granted certain status by the Department of Homeland Security and had a family history of paying taxes to pay in-state rates at colleges and universities in Virginia.

Proponents argue that the state already pays to educate such students in their younger years but then drives them away with the cost of higher education right at the time they would be entering the workforce and paying taxes themselves.

Two similar bills — one by Del. Alfonso Lopez, D-Arlington, and another by Del. Tom Rust, R-Herndon — have been filed in the General Assembly's lower chamber and remained in the House Education Committee on Thursday night, according to the Legislature's website.

The Senate bill was the effort of a trio of Democrats, Sen. Donald McEachin of Henrico County, Adam Ebbin of Alexandria and Dave Marsden of Burke.

"These young people are a part of our communities, and they’re not going to disappear tomorrow," Ebbin said in a statement. "So why wouldn’t we give them this tool to succeed in and contribute to those communities?”

Voting to kill the Senate version of the bill was Sen. Stephen Martin, R-Chesterfield; Sen. Stephen Newman, R-Forest; Sen. Ralph Smith, R-Roanoke; Sen. Jeffrey McWaters, R-Virginia Beach; Sen. Dick Black, R-Leesburg; Sen. Charles Carrico, R-Galax; and Sen. Thomas Garrett, R-Hadensville.

Voting for the bill were Senate Democratic Leader Dick Saslaw of Springfield; Sen. Louise Lucas, D-Portsmouth; Sen. Janet Howell, D-Reston; Sen. Mamie Locke, D-Hampton; Sen. George Barker, D-Alexandria; and Sen. John Miller, D-Newport News.

Last month students who graduated from Virginia high schools filed a lawsuit in an attempt to overturn a decision by the State Council of Higher Education that makes them ineligible for in-state tuition rates.

http://mclean.patch.com/groups/schoo...ct-bill-mclean

Dave GibsonImmigration Reform Examiner
January 26, 2014

Va. Democrats fail to pass bill granting in-state tuition to illegal aliens

On Thursday, the Virginia DREAM Act (SB 249), which would have granted in-state tuition at Virginia's public colleges and universities to illegal aliens who have either attended high school or received a GED in the state, was voted down by a Senate subcommittee.

The measure, co-sponsored by Sen. Donald McEachin (D-Richmond) and Sen. Adam Ebbin (D-Alexandria) failed to make it past the Senate Subcommittee on Higher Education. The 6-7 vote, was along straight party lines.

The vote went as follows:

YEAS

Sen. Richard Saslaw (D-Springfield)
Sen. Louise Lucas (D-Portsmouth)
Sen. Janet Howell (D-Reston)
Sen. Mamie Locke (D-Hampton)
Sen. George Barker (D-Alexandria)
Sen. John Miller (D- Newport News)

NAYS

Sen. Stephen Martin (R-Chesterfield)
Sen. Stephen Newman (R-Forest)
Sen. Ralph Smith (R-Roanoke)
Sen. Jeffrey McWaters (R-Virginia Beach)
Sen. Richard Black (R-Leesburg)
Sen. Charles Carrico (R-Galax)
Sen. Thomas Garrett (R-Hadensville)

The bill was heavily supported by Gov. Terry McAuliffe and represents the first major defeat for the Democrat.
Colorado, Minnesota, New Jersey, Oregon, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Texas, California, Utah, New York, Washington, Illinois, Kansas, New Mexico, Nebraska, Maryland and Oklahoma all offer in-state tuition to illegal aliens.

Related articles:

Massachusetts college offers illegal alien-only scholarship
Maryland state legislature passes in-state tuition bill for illegal aliens
Colorado college now offers tuition break to illegal aliens

Source: http://www.examiner.com/article/va-d...alerts_article