A bill prohibiting the admission of illegal aliens into institutions of higher education has passed the Virginia House of Delegates and now will be considered in the Senate.
The official title of the bill, HB2910, is "Prohibiting admission of illegal aliens to public institutions in higher education." The bill passed the House Feb. 3 and is on this Thursday's agenda for Senate Committee on Education and Health.
The most recent version of the bill states that the institutions' Board of Visitors or other governing bodies will have the power to establish rules and regulations for the acceptance of students except for those individuals who are unlawfully present in the United States. According to the bill, illegal aliens shall not be eligible for admission to any public institution of higher education in the Commonwealth.
Dean of Admissions John Blackburn said the bill presumably would not affect the University.
"We're [already] operating under an opinion from the Attorney General that undocumented aliens will not be permitted," Blackburn said.
It is possible that some students at the University do not realize that they are undocumented, Blackburn said. He said if the University finds such students, it presumably will have to terminate their enrollment.
Creigh Deeds, the Democratic Senator for the Charlottesville area, said he does not think the bill will pass out of the Senate committee.
"There are good public policy reasons for us to consider the needs of illegal aliens, but when it comes to education, I don't think you can punish the children of people who are here illegally," Deeds said.
Del. Mitch Van Yahres, D-Charlottesville said he would not be surprised if the bill passed the committee.
"The conservative movement in Virginia thinks that we should not be taking care of illegal aliens," said Van Yahres, who voted against the bill.
The chief patron of the bill, Del. Thomas Gear, R-York County said no law exists which forbids the University from accepting illegal immigrants.
"We're looking at a situation where illegal aliens are taking up spots in our public universities," Gear said.
The bill will face some opposition, Gear said. He said although both houses of the state legislature are controlled by Republicans, not every vote is along party lines.
"A lot of the bleeding hearts have come out in opposition to it, but this is something that needs to be done," he said. "I don't know how members of the opposition would feel if an illegal alien got into a university and their kid didn't."
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