Arizona Supreme Court Denies DACA Students In-State Tuition -- How this Threatens Texas College Students

This week, the Arizona Supreme Court decided that Arizona-resident DACA students no longer have in-state/in-district tuition status for colleges and universities. In their decision, the court agreed that DACA students have been granted "lawful status" by the federal government, but not "legal status" for state law to qualify for state resident rates. In other words, though these students live in the state, apparently the court does not see them legal but illegal. Wrap your head that one around for a while.

This decision affects over 2,000 students in Arizona and, without appeal to circuit court, these thousands of students will see immediate tuition increases or simply withdraw from college. The out-of-state rate will triple the tuition for these students, and of course, many cannot afford that tuition. For example, in-state students at Arizona State University will pay $9,834 for tuition next school year, while non-resident students pay $27,618.

This court decision is exactly why the federal DREAM Act is needed (and the Congress has no interest -- neither Republicans nor Democrats have the willpower to make this happen). The original federal DREAM Act was proposed in 2001, and nearly two decades later, the nation has failed these hundreds of thousands of young people. Because of this state's decision, thousands over another generation will not be able to afford higher education, promising more poverty in the state for another generation. We should notice that the Arizona Board of Regents Chair Bill Ridenour had been supportive of DACA students and stated:

"The board continues to hope that soon, a congressional enactment will establish the lawful status and presence of those who were brought to this country unlawfully as children and have remained here as law-abiding members of our communities," Ridenour said.

Source: Wikimedia Commons

Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich's response was merely that this was "his job," arguing that all along that colleges and universities were violating state and federal laws by granting in-state tuition to DACA recipients. “It’s about time someone held them accountable, and that’s my job. My role as AG is to make sure you’re following the law,” he said. As we argue elsewhere, this kind of response that mimics others' excuses for their own impotence endangers all justice.

The Arizona AG's response -- "That's my job" -- is parallels to Texas Attorney General Paxton, who has lead the charge to sue the federal government to cancel all DACA protection of youth: “Indeed, if the injunction is maintained through June 2018, amici States will be forced to consider filing a lawsuit challenging the original 2012 memorandum creating DACA,” said Paxton in January 2018.

Why Arizona Predicts Texas's Threats to Undocumented Students

We need to appreciate that, though the federal government has continuously failed to do what functional governments should, the State of Texas was the first state with a DREAM Act, in 2001. In 2001, a Republican-majority House of Representatives and Republican-majority Senate passed HB 1403 to qualify migrants -- including some undocumented -- as residents of Texas for purposes of tuition at the rate provided to residents of this state ... and was signed by Republican Governor Rick Perry. In 2001, the people of Texas had the moral motivation to both recognize the economic and social capital of state residents, regardless of their national document status. This Texas DREAM Act has permitted tens of thousands of students who live in the state to attend the state's colleges and universities with the economic privilege of residency. This is sensible, since undocumented families pay taxes in Texas and should have the advantage of those taxes. Specifically, the current Texas DREAM Act allows in-state tuition for students who have lived in Texas for three years and either have obtained a GED or graduated from the state's public or accredited private schools. Before this act, Texas colleges treated undocumented students as international, requiring them to pay international tuition, even though most had lived in Texas for most of their lives, paying Texas taxes.

Now, if Texas AG Paxton follows Arizona's lead to further attack our undocumented students, again tens of thousands of future college students will not afford tuition.

For example, the following table demonstrates the gross disparity of in-district tuition vs international tuition.

Credit Hours	In-District	International
1	$96	$252
2	$160	$360
3	$224	$524
4	$288	$688
5	$352	$852
6	$416	$1,016
7	$480	$1,180
8	$544	$1,344
9	$608	$1,508
10	$672	$1,672
11	$736	$1,836
12	$800	$2,000

See Lone Star College.

In future blog posts, we will address real problems of working- and poverty-class students, how their poverty affects college success, and both college support and college failures to support our community members.

For now, we need to reach out to our current legislators and start a very aggressive campaign to a) oppose the Abbott-Patrick-Paxton axis attack against our students, and b) demand stronger legislation to expand protection of our undocumented students. This is a core value of the college and -- importantly -- must be a core value for the union.

Visit to Ted Cruz's Office

In the latest post, we organized a mini-visit at the office of Senator Rafael Edward "Ted" Cruz in downtown Houston. Three comrades took a nice walk from the Sixth Ward, across Buffalo Bayou, and into the city streets until we arrived at the historic Esperson Building. On the 14th floor, we were buzzed by the aides until we were permitted to come into the office.

The young white aides were very polite, polished, and generous as they offered water as they seated us in a small comfortable meeting room, surrounded with emblems of American patriotism, the senator’s several “Love Me” wall awards and recognitions, and a tidy stack of conservative books. We should note that this visit occurred the morning after the Senate agreement on the budget, which failed to address DACA or immigration in any way, much to the disappointment and anger of many DREAMers. We discussed the senator’s press release and how he obviously disregarded the migration issue, though after the budget deal was reached, Senate Majority Leader McConnell had specifically stated that this budget agreement would permit the Senate to address migration immediately. 

Our discussion points centered on our concerns with our students and our college:

1. Senator Cruz has not yet provided leadership to demonstrate how our undocumented students are threatened in our communities by the current administration.
2. Our students are threatened, their families are threatened, and thus the college is threatened for any definition of “success.”
3. As educators, our priorities are to see student success, but the senator has been largely dis-engaged from the movement to protect DACA or “DREAMers.”

The aides’ only discussion point was that the senator will not accept “amnesty” for migration. Though we mentioned that President Ronald Reagan had signed an enormous amnesty with significant economic benefits, the aides had no response. In fact, both aides were very  uninformed about the Reagan amnesty: “I had just learned about Ronald Reagan …” [! -- NOTE: While understanding that aides are not responsible (or not?) to understand all recent political history, we found this odd that very enthusiastic supporters of the GOP narrative are apparently clueless about those recent policies; certainly the Senator is more informed, and we know that. But this does also reflect that even “informed” citizens are truly clueless about the broken migration system in the U.S., as we’ve attempted to discuss in the Advocate.]

Our conversation continued for about 20 minutes. We emphasized that the Senator must lead this discussion to protect our communities. We emphasized, too, that our students are immediately threatened and few if any institutions are challenging this inertia of silence. Again, the aides were very polite, very friendly, very uninformed. They emphasized that they would take notes of our visit and “tally” our position, forward the tally to their Washington office, and every night the senator would look at the “tally.”

We asked what was more effective -- a call, a visit, a letter -- and the aides said that they were all equal [this response is contrast with other discussions, and we need to understand this more]. We left the office, impressed with ourselves, found a coffee shop in the tunnels, and discussed additional strategies to be more informed and more assertive with our voices, our citizenship, and our educational resources. The morning was very positive, even if frustrating.

In another time, we’d like to discuss the point of “democracy” in this system, and if our visit was in fact practicing good “citizenship,” but for now, we felt that we did something -- we have rights that some others do not have. We exercised our rights. Let us celebrate these small things.

AFT Call for Action: A "Clean" DREAM Act

In the most recent issue of The Advocate, we called for an action at the downtown office of Senator Ted Cruz on Friday, February 9 to discuss the ways that a “clean” DREAM Act affects our students. The nature of this conversation may differ radically based on the actions taken in Congress to keep the government open past Thursday, February 8.

When Democratic leadership compromised with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to reopen the government on January 22, they agreed to continue funding through February 8 with a promise to vote on some version of a DREAM Act. As we approach Thursday, congress has yet to hold this vote, and it remains unclear what kind of legislation might be under consideration or even whether the government will be funded/open on Friday. Current likely bills, like the bipartisan USA Act, have come under fire from immigrants rights groups for combining the promise of a pathway to citizenship for Dreamers with increased funding that many believe will result in more deportations and militarization of the US-Mexico border.

As we are considering the importance of a DREAM Act/Renewal of DACA for many of our students, it’s equally important to remember students who have undocumented family members or who are themselves undocumented. A “clean” DREAM Act is one that would renew and expand DACA without potentially harming other migrants.

It’s difficult to guess exactly what kind of political situation we’ll wake up to on Friday, February 9, but we understand the climate and the needs of our students well. You can inform yourself more on this issue by reading our past articles on DACA and immigration [1, 2, 3], read here for a discussion of why a DREAM Act is important for the Texas economy, and look here and here for posts from Dreamers about the kind of immigration reform they support.

We’ll meet in front of Ted Cruz’s office at 10am on Friday, February 9 to discuss these issues. After meeting Cruz’s aides, we will gather for sandwiches nearby in solidarity.