Bill would force undocumented students to pay higher tuition
One Texas lawmaker says he is trying to help solve the immigration problem. However, his solution is getting criticized from both sides of the political aisle.
State Senator Brian Birdwell has proposed a bill (SB 437) that would make undocumented students at Texas colleges ineligible for lower in-state tuition rates. Professor Barbara Hines directs the Immigration Center at U-T in Austin and told KTRH this doesn't solve the problem.
“Denying them in state tuition is not going to resolve immigration issues. There’s no reason why we wouldn’t want to have the most educated population in our state,” Hines said.
She says that the state would be shooting itself in the foot if this goes through.
“The students that benefit from the current law are the best and the brightest. They are students that were brought here as young children and consider Texas their home,” Hines explained.
Conservative analyst Bryan Preston says Birdwell's intentions are good, but this bill doesn't really get the job done.
“There are only a couple of thousand of them in the state. I understand what Birdwell is doing. I applaud the intention of securing the border, but I don’t think this is the right way to do it,” Preston stated.
In the final analysis, Preston believes Birdwell's idea is extreme.
“If it were to pass, it would shut people out of the education system that you don’t want to shut out of the education system,” Preston said.
Birdwell's bill isn't the only one like this being considered. There are two other bills like it that have been filed this session.
