State Lawmakers Hope to Quash Utah's Tuition Break for Illegals
by Chad Groening
June 29, 2005
(AgapePress) - An immigration reform organization is praising Utah lawmakers for proposing legislation to rescind in-state tuition rights for illegal aliens.In 2002, the Utah Legislature approved in-state tuition for individuals who are in the United States illegally. According to an Associated Press report at that time, the law states that illegal aliens who have attended Utah high schools for at least three years are eligible for the tuition break, which is about two-thirds less than the nonresident rate. But Susan Tully of the Federation for American Immigration Reform says the citizens of the state have not been happy with the law, and have pushed the Legislature to rescind it.
"The State of Utah Education [Interim] Committee voted unanimously to rescind their in-state tuition for illegal aliens law," Tully explains. "[House Bill 239] will come up for a vote next January before the Legislature."
Tully, who contends it is not fair for illegal immigrants to have the right to reduced tuition that American citizens from other states cannot have, is hopeful the bill will pass quickly. In addition, she says Utah's voters need to bring several of their congressional representatives home from Washington, DC -- in much the same fashion a veteran South Dakota senator was removed from office.
"We need to do 'Tom Dashles' on Chris Cannon and Orin Hatch and some of the others who are pro-open borders," Tully says. "We need to send them home -- to go find a real job and compete for that job against foreigners and see what they think [about that]."
Both Representative Cannon and Senator Hatch are sponsors of the yet-to-be-passed federal statute known as the Dream Act, which would allow states to grant exemptions to nonresident students who live three years in a state and graduate from an in-state high school.
Chad Groening, a regular contributor to AgapePress, is a reporter for American Family Radio News, which can be heard online.
