Tag: illegal immigrants in-state tuition

Bills for In-State Tuition for Illegal Immigrants Passes Virginia House, Senate

The Center Square

The Virginia Senate and House of Delegates passed their own versions of legislation that would guarantee in-state tuition for illegal immigrants residing in the state this week.

Under both bills, a person would be allowed to receive in-state tuition for public colleges and universities as long as the person meets all other necessary criteria, regardless of whether the person is residing in the country legally. The House version of the bill will be sent to the Senate and the Senate version to the House.

Read the full story

Randy Boyd Looking For a Way to Give Illegal Aliens In-State College Tuition

Chris Alto
Randy Boyd

During last week’s radio interview with Ralph Bristol, Randy Boyd repeats the same arguments being used by legislators to grant in-state tuition to illegal aliens living in Tennessee. At first, Boyd makes it sound as if he is opposed to giving in-state tuition to illegal aliens when he says, “I don’t believe that the state should be providing additional benefits for people that are illegal in our state.” But Boyd makes a quick pivot relying on the same arguments used by legislators who voted in favor of the State Sen. Gardenhire/State Rep. White in-state tuition bill. Former State Sen. Jim Tracy (R-Shelbyville) said his focus was wanting to help UT Martin fill their open seats because “we need more students in college…we are not at full capacity now…I’m just trying to reach more students.” Boyd used a partially empty hotel example to illustrate why the state shouldn’t use its tuition policies to “charge a penalty of triple” the amount of in-state tuition: I think that’s true and I think this my be a longer conversation for another interview, but I think there is also a concern that I have about us being able to attract more talent around the country and around…

Read the full story

Randy Boyd On In-State Tuition for Illegal Aliens: Universities ‘Would Make A Significant Amount of Money’ By Not Charging Them ‘Triple’ Out-of-State Rates

Admin
Randy Boyd

In a carefully parsed response to a question from WTN’s Ralph Bristol on Wednesday, GOP gubernatorial candidate Randy Boyd said he agreed with a recent opinion issued by Tennessee Attorney General Herbert Slatery that the matter of charging in-state tuition for illegal aliens is the responsibility of the Tennessee General Assembly. But, Boyd added, our “[state] universities are not at capacity,” and, just like a hotel, we should not keep paying students away by charging them “triple” out-of-state tuition, but instead should charge them “full” in-state tuition. This is the precise language used by in-state-tuition advocates State Sen. Todd Gardenhire (R-Chattanooga) and State Rep. Mark White (R-Memphis) in their recent attempts to push in-state-tuition for illegals through the Tennessee General Assembly. Gardenhire and White are expected to re-introduce that legislation to the Tennessee General Assembly when it convenes next month. The recent Tennessee Star poll shows the support of in-state tuition for the children of illegal immigrants is potentially toxic to a campaign aiming to earn a majority of Republican primary voters in 2018. A staggering 88 percent of Republican primary voters polled say they oppose providing taxpayer subsidized in-state college tuition to illegal immigrant students versus a mere 6 percent who…

Read the full story

Gardenhire Objects to Referring to Those He Calls ‘Undocumented Students’ As Illegal Immigrants

Chris Alto
Tennessee Star

State Senator Todd Gardenhire (R-Chattanooga) has taken exception to The Tennessee Star’s polling question which accurately refers to foreign nationals of any age who have entered or been brought into the country without permission as “illegal immigrants.” Gardenhire prefers to use the left’s politically deceptive description of “children of undocumented immigrants who are brought to this country when they are very young.” “Illegal alien” is the term used in federal immigration statutes and is the term sanctioned by the U.S. Supreme Court in a 2012 immigration case. Open border leftist organizations such as the TN Immigrant & Refugee Rights Coalition (TIRRC) and La Raza, also use “undocumented immigrant” in an effort to “obscure the illegal actions and conduct of those who violate our immigration laws.” In 2014, after failing to move his in-state tuition bill out of committee, Gardenhire tried for a second time the following year. Working his 2015 bill to grant in-state college tuition to illegal alien students, he never used “illegal” anything, referring instead to the potential beneficiaries as, “certain students,” “best and brightest of this category,” “this segment of the population,” “these people,” “undocumented,” and “Tennessee high school graduates.” Rep. Mark White, sponsor of the companion House bills,…

Read the full story

Tennessee Star Poll: 84 Percent of Republican Primary Voters Reject In-State Tuition for Illegal Aliens

Tennessee Star Staff
Tennessee Star

  The Tennessee Star Poll conducted of 1,007 likely Republican primary voters in the state shows they reject in-state college tuition for illegal aliens by a stunning 84 percent to 11 percent margin. When asked “In 2018, the Tennessee General Assembly is expected to reconsider a bill to provide in-state college tuition to illegal immigrant students. Do you support or oppose providing in-state college tuition to illegal immigrant students?” Tennessee likely Republican primary voters resoundingly rejected the idea–with high levels of intensity. 68.9% Strongly Disapproved 15.5% Somewhat Disapproved 5.9% Somewhat Approved 5.2% Strongly Approved 4.5% Not Sure/don’t know In-state tuition for illegal aliens and repeal of the gas tax increase are likely to be two of the hottest topics of the 2018 election in the gubernatorial race as well as a number of contested state legislative races. Two bills proposed in this year’s session of the Tennessee General Assembly introduced by State Senator Todd Gardenhire (R-Chattanooga) and State Rep. Mark White (R-Memphis) that promised in-state tuition at Tennessee’s public colleges failed to become law. One bill, HB660, “would authorize the new college and university governing boards to decide which students are eligible to pay in-state tuition rates.” Another bill, HB 863,…

Read the full story

State Rep. Mark White Bringing Failed Bill for Illegal Immigrant In-State Tuition Back to Committee

Chris Alto

Rep. Mark White’s (R-Memphis) second bill, HB660, that if left unamended, would have allowed the governing boards of state colleges and universities to grant in-state tuition to illegal immigrant students, failed in the House Education committee yesterday, but he has put it back on next Tuesday’s calendar and will ask the committee to reconsider its action. Republicans Jimmy Matlock, Terri Lynn Weaver, Ron Lollar, Roger Kane, Debra Moody and Dawn White, voted “no” on the bill. Republicans Eddie Smith, Mark White and Harry Brooks, along with all Democrats on the committee, voted “yes,” except that Democrat Rep. John DeBerry was absent when the vote was taken making it more than likely that the bill would have passed had he been present. Mark White could have chosen to roll his bill until all members were present to vote, but chose not to and let the vote move forward. According to sources at the legislature, Rep. DeBerry, a proponent for giving illegal immigrants in-state tuition, is pushing for a motion to reconsider White’s bill. It is not clear whether any motion to reconsider White’s bill will require a two-thirds vote of committee members, which would take ten votes to revive the bill, or…

Read the full story