The California legislature is considering a bill that would allow U.S.-born children now living abroad with their deported immigrant families to pay in-state tuition to attend a public California college or university. Max Pringle reports from Sacramento.
State senator Lou Correa introduced the bill. He says the children of undocumented immigrants are deported through no fault of their own but they still retain the rights of US citizens.
“As these families are deported from the US, along with them go US born American citizens that follow these families to other countries,” says Correa.
The University of California opposes the bill fearing added red tape and expense. It also warns that some legal foreign California residents may return to their homelands voluntarily and send their kids back to California to skirt out-of-state tuition fees.
A perspective student must be an American citizen and a California resident at their time of deportation to qualify. They would also have to prove they went to high school in the state for at least three years. The Assembly education committee is now considering the bill.