One member of Georgia’s General Assembly is attempting to reignite an effort to give in-state college tuition to Georgia residents who came to the United States illegally.
“State Rep. Kasey Carpenter said Monday that he will reintroduce legislation this week that would allow young immigrants who have been granted a reprieve from deportation to pay in-state tuition at Georgia colleges and universities,” according to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (AJC).
The “immigrants” to whom AJC refers are Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) illegal aliens, who crossed the border without documentation when they were children. There has been a concerted effort, mostly among liberals, to grant amnesty to DACA recipients.
DACA recipients were given temporary legal status under former president Barack Obama, and the Supreme Court rejected former president Donald Trump’s bid to revoke that temporary legal status. President Joe Biden has made it a priority to create a pathway to citizenship for DACA recipients.
Carpenter (pictured above) is a Republican who represents Georgia’s House District 4.
“We have invested in these kids already through k-12 education,” he reportedly said. “It provides opportunities for our students to enter the workforce with better qualifications.”
But there is no guarantee that students who receive a college degree in Georgia will remain in the state after graduation and contribute to its economy. Currently, the United States has an unemployment rate of just under seven percent, and 10.7 million Americans are unemployed.
Still, Carpenter is pushing forward.
“Carpenter’s HB 997 also specified that for students to be eligible for in-state tuition they must be younger than 30, have been in the United States since they turned 12 and have graduated from a Georgia high school or obtained Georgia GED diplomas,” AJC said.
The estimated number of DACA recipients in Georgia is over 21,000. Nationwide, there are just under one million estimated DACA recipients.
Nearly one year ago, House Bill 997, the first bill introduced by Carpenter to grant in-state tuition to DACA recipients, failed to make it out of committee.
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Pete D’Abrosca is a contributor at The Georgia Star News and The Star News Network. Follow Pete on Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “State Rep Kasey Carpenter” by State Rep Kasey Carpenter.
