The debate over illegal immigrants' access to higher public education continues this month in the Virginia Assembly. Tonight the Virginia Sub-Committee of Higher Education reviews Bill 262, which could bar illegal immigrants from any public institute for higher learning, while the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia (SCHEV) announced Jan. 10 that it authorized its chair to endorse the admission of aliens.
Three years ago Gov. Mark R. Warner vetoed legislation that would bar aliens from paying in-state rates. SCHEV representatives say they have yet to determine whether they will endorse in-state tuition for illegal immigrants, if they are allowed to continue attending public universities.
"We have not discussed the in-state tuition piece," said Elizabeth Wallace, SCHEV director of Government Relations and Communications. "The Council took up the issue only of admitting undocumented students."
This is the first time that SCHEV has taken a position on the issue of whether illegal immigrants should be admitted to state institutions, Wallace said. The Council took up the issue to coincide with the federal government's revision of its guidelines on the acceptance of illegal immigrants to public universities, she added.
"The members that spoke at our Jan. 10 meeting were very supportive" of the measure, Wallace said.
Patrons of Bill 262 were not available for comment.
Senator Russell Potts (R-Winchester) has argued in favor of both the admission of the offspring of illegal immigrants and their eligibility for in-state tuition.
"I'm not in favor of illegal immigrants, but I also know we are a nation of immigrants," Potts said.
He also said he doubts the continued acceptance of illegal immigrants' children in higher education would encourage additional illegal immigration. Furthermore, he does not believe that the offspring of illegal immigrants should be punished for their parents' status.
"A lot of these holier-than-thou people who are professing this ought to go back and look at their family tree," he said. "I think that a young person [from an immigrant family] probably had a whole lot of a steeper hill to climb than you or I did. That's the promise of America, I suppose."
Potts said that he does not endorse special privileges for illegal immigrants.
"I don't think they ought to be given any favors," he said. "I think they ought to stand on their own two feet. But I don't think they ought to be penalized."
Jack Martin, Special Projects Director of Federation for American Immigration Reform, argued last year before a panel of the Virginia Senate in favor of a bill similar to 262. That bill had passed the House but was defeated by the Senate in a 12-3 vote February 2005. Martin said yesterday that he is not opposed to the admission of illegal immigrants into public colleges as long as they pay out-of-state tuition.
"Our concern is that the Virginia taxpayer be asked to subsidize the education of people who are not legally present in the United States," he said.
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