Among the measures being considered by the Florida State Legislature to control the impact of illegal immigration, students known as “Dreamers” are being stripped of an advantage they have had for the past 8 years.
While some Republicans continue to support these students, the state’s most powerful state leaders say times have changed.
The vice-governor did not rule out that an agreement could eventually be reached, but stressed that the situation is now very different. While the education commissioner noted that 17,000 new immigrant students entered the public school system this year.
Students from across Florida traveled to Tallahassee to meet lawmakers and ask them to reject the governor’s plan to scrap tuition for undocumented students living in Florida, some from a young age.
“I came to the United States when I was one year old,” says dreamer Harold Silva. “It is very important for us Dreamers that we can have an education that is not so expensive to have many opportunities.”
Without in-state tuition being much more expensive, a semester at Miami Dade College for Florida residents can cost $1,418. Without the benefit of the resident discount, it rises to 4,830.
Florida’s lieutenant governor was a state representative when in-state tuition for Dreamers was approved in 2014, but today she says times have changed.
“What we’ve seen from then until now is a complete disaster on the border. We’ve seen that last year 5 million people arrived here, many of them in Florida…we can’t not continue to endure this number of people without consequences from the federal government,” says Jeannette Nuñez, Lieutenant Governor of Florida.
Manny Diaz, who now heads the Florida Department of Education, was also a state representative and a supporter of the Dreamers.
“I believe the situation in 2014 was very different. It was a limited number of students…Florida State universities, colleges are designed to serve our students, our taxpayers,” says Manny Díaz, education commissioner. .
Some Republican lawmakers don’t see it that way when it comes to the Dreamers. Among them, state representative Alina García, who recognizes “they are children who grew up here, it is not their fault that they were brought here illegally”.
One thing State Rep. Alex Rizzo agrees with: “These are kids, young people who want to excel, they want to pursue those careers because we’re going to say ‘no, they can’t’.”
But Education Commissioner Manny Diaz said the Dreamers “still have an opportunity, that they’ll just have to pay the same price as a normal out-of-state student.
“I understand that (that it is four times more expensive) but we also have to understand that the situation has changed, the policies of the Biden administration, a crisis has reached the southern border and the people of Florida must be protected” , he says Diaz defends himself.
Telemundo 51 political analyst Mike Hernández thinks that “even if they don’t agree at the moment, at the end of the day what the governor wants is what the Republicans in the legislature will TO DO”.
And the Governor has included this change for the Dreamers as part of his goals for this legislative session. A Miami Dade College spokeswoman said if this happens, some may be eligible for scholarships or aid.