Among the measures that the Florida state legislature is considering to control the impact of illegal immigration is taking away from students known as “Dreamers” a benefit they have had for the last 8 years.
While some Republicans continue to support these students, the most powerful state leaders in the state say that times have changed.
The vice governor did not rule out that an agreement could possibly be reached, but pointed out that the situation now is very different. While the education commissioner noted that 17,000 new immigrant students have entered the public school system this year.
Students from across Florida traveled to Tallahassee to meet with lawmakers and ask them to reject the governor’s plan to take away in-state college tuition for undocumented students living in Florida, some from a very young age.
“I came to the United States when I was one year old,” says the 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 goes up to 4,830.
The Florida 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 have seen from that point until today is a complete disaster on the border. We have seen that last year 5 million people who arrived here, many of them to Florida … we cannot continue to endure that number of people without consequences from the federal government,” says Jeannette Nuñez, Florida’s lieutenant governor.
Manny Diaz, who now heads the Florida Department of Education, was also a state representative and supported the Dreamers.
“I believe that the situation in 2014 was very different. It was a limited number of students … the universities in the state of Florida, the Colleges are designed to serve our students, our taxpayers,” says Manny Díaz, commissioner of Education.
Some Republican lawmakers don’t see it that way with respect to Dreamers. Among them, state representative Alina García, who acknowledges “they are children who have grown up here, it is not their fault that they were brought here illegally.”
Something with which state representative Alex Rizzo agrees: “These are children, young people who want to excel, they want to pursue those careers as we are going to say ‘no, they can’t’.”
But Education Commissioner Manny Diaz says Dreamers “still have an opportunity, which they’re just going to have to pay the same 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 residents of Florida have to be protected,” he said. Diaz defends.
Telemundo 51 political analyst Mike Hernández thinks “even if they disagree at this time, in the end what the governor wants is what the Republicans in the legislature are going to do.”
And the Governor has included this change for Dreamers as part of his goals for this legislative session. A spokeswoman for Miami Dade College reported that if this occurs some may be eligible for scholarships or assistance.