With masked U.S. Immigrations and Custom Enforcement agents patrolling American cities, mass deportations separating families and a barrage of anti-immigrant propaganda, the Trump administration is attacking undocumented immigrants all over the United States on multiple fronts. The Justice Department and former Attorney General Jason Miyares (R) entered a settlement to end undocumented students’ access to in-state tuition Dec. 29, spearheading another attack — an attempt to push undocumented students out of higher education. The University community must come together in support and defense of undocumented students, who are facing such brazen action, and prioritize their humanity over an extreme ideological mission of hate.
Per Virginia state law, undocumented immigrants are granted in-state tuition to Virginia public universities if they have attended at least two years of high school in the Commonwealth and can submit evidence of income taxes filed by themselves or by a guardian of whom they are a dependent for the past two years. While the Justice Department insists that this is in direct violation of federal law, the National Immigration Law Center disagrees, arguing that tuition equity policies that have been adopted by at least 22 states are fully compliant. Additionally, Attorney General Jay Jones (D) plans to give a full defense of the policy, calling his predecessor Miyares’ decision to support the Justice Department’s lawsuit “legally incorrect.” Time will tell how these legal questions are decided, and it is imperative that decisions — which will have a major impact on real people — are made with fairness and humanity in mind, not the Trump administration’s agenda.
The stakes are certainly high. As it currently stands, 13,122 undocumented students — or about 2.6 percent of total student enrollment in the Commonwealth — attend Virginia public universities. If the Justice Department’s lawsuit is successful, undocumented students at the University could lose in-state tuition eligibility immediately, causing their tuition to rise by nearly $40,000 — 163.3 percent — and likely forcing many students to drop out of school mid-year. This is especially pertinent, considering undocumented students are not eligible for federal student aid. For some, that would mean never finishing their degree, despite how hard they worked or how close they were to graduating. The sheer cruelty of this alone, forcing so many students out of higher education mid-degree, after they might have already paid thousands in tuition, makes this action completely reprehensible.
The Justice Department would like you to think that offering in-state tuition to undocumented students is unfair to American citizens, but the truth is that it inflicts little, if any, tangible harm. While in-state undocumented students are technically taking a small number of seats away from American citizens who could have filled their spot, it is important to remember that those undocumented immigrants earned their spot on their own academic merit, regardless of their immigration status. Moreover, undocumented immigrants living in Virginia deserve access to in-state tuition because they fulfill the basic principle that the concept of in-state tuition rests on — they pay state taxes. In 2022 alone, undocumented immigrants paid nearly $700 million in state and local taxes in the state of Virginia, money that directly funds Virginia’s public universities. By having access to in-state tuition, undocumented students are simply getting what they rightly earned through hard work in the classroom and their contributions to state taxes.
Undocumented students’ presence in higher education also adds a lot to American citizens’ experiences. Meeting, collaborating and making friends with people from all walks of life is truly one of the most important, and least replaceable, features of attending a public university. While students might be able to educate themselves on the subjects they would take classes in, in no other place will they find such a broad collection of people all brought together to pursue a common goal — education. And while the inevitable differences that stem from diversity — differences in politics, values, culture and much more — can cause conflict, college is the very place meant for those disagreements to clash, teaching students to reconcile and accept the unavoidable fact of human life that is difference. Undocumented students must be a part of that diversity. Their background brings an entirely new perspective to the table — a perspective that needs to be heard, understood and empathized with now more than ever.
But putting aside what undocumented students can do for the rest of the University community, the truth is they should not have to justify their presence on Grounds. In light of the dehumanizing cruelty that the federal government has been carrying out against them, they are still human beings who deserve the same level of respect as the next person. While breaking immigration law is not right, many undocumented students had no choice in how they entered the country, being brought into the United States as children by their parents. And depriving these young people from an affordable in-state college education would hurt the very people who most need support. For a university that — even in the absence of former University President Jim Ryan — should still strive to be both great and good, supporting the most vulnerable in society seems like an excellent way to accomplish that.
In times of scapegoating and persecution, it is not an option to sit idly by — not for individuals, communities or institutions. Accepting the settlement and watching undocumented students’ economic access to public universities be taken away would be a catastrophic concession. We must all stand up for undocumented students’ right to take part in higher education, acknowledging the significant good they do for our University, as well as their basic dignity. As students, that might mean something as simple as voicing our support outwardly for undocumented students amongst our peers. For University decision-makers, that means policymaking that actively supports undocumented students and pushing back against anti-immigrant federal encroachment. To put it simply, humanity must be prioritized over hate.
Beckett Anderson is an opinion columnist who writes about politics for The Cavalier Daily. He can be reached at opinion@cavalierdaily.com.
The opinions expressed in this column are not necessarily those of The Cavalier Daily. Columns represent the views of the authors alone.
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