President Barack Obama’s Nov. 20 executive order will allow approximately 5 million undocumented immigrants to remain in the United States without fear of deportation for a period of three years. The executive order extends the protections of the 2012 Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program to a much larger population. DACA originally applied only to people under the age of 30 who came to the United States before they turned 16. The new rules will remove the age cap.
A study released earlier this year found 23 percent of people who applied for temporary legal status under DACA ended up going to school. The opportunity to get an education stems from the opportunity to work legally, to earn enough money to pay for school.
The new executive order will also allow the parents of a U.S. citizen or legal resident to apply for deferred deportation and work permits. If parents are allowed to apply for work permits, they may be able to better support their children’s education. About 43 percent of students with DACA pursuing college degrees took a break from their studies to work, because their families may have needed their supplemental income. If parents are now able to work as well, students could more easily complete their college degrees.
Temporary legal status may also encourage more parents to file tax returns, which in some states could allow their children to be eligible for in-state tuition at public universities. Virginia is one of the 19 states which allows undocumented immigrants living in the state to pay in-state tuition.
But at those other 31 states, cost is still a major barrier. All across the country, many schools don’t offer any financial aid to immigrants who have temporary legal status under DACA. California is the only state where they can apply for state aid, and there are some private colleges who offer students financial aid no matter their status, such as Harvard, Columbia, Yale, Princeton, and most recently NYU. Perhaps this practice is more feasible for prestigious schools with larger endowments, since offering financial aid to these students requires giving all grant aid.
But not every immigrant who wants to go to college lives in California, or can gain admission to the aforementioned private schools. Access to higher education for immigrants has been increasing, but many barriers remain. Obama’s executive order creates new opportunities, but more action is necessary from the legislature to make major changes.
State legislatures may have to take most of the initiative, since immigration reform is such a polarizing issue which Congress seems unwilling to address. One possibility is enacting laws similar to California’s, which allow immigrants to apply for state aid. The logic behind such a law is presumably the same as the logic of letting immigrants pay in-state tuition, even if they are undocumented: if the family has paid taxes to the state, they should be able to gain the same benefits as other taxpayers who are citizens.
The United States is supposed to be a land of opportunity, and we are not living up to that ideal if we restrict immigrants’ access to education. The people who seek to educate themselves are the ones with the most potential to make our country better. Denying them that opportunity is denying the whole nation the opportunity for improvement.
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