Hundreds of illegal immigrant high school students yesterday rallied on the Capitol grounds for affordable college tuition, but members of Congress are not optimistic that bills permitting the students to attend college at in-state-tuition rates would pass this year.
The students want Congress to pass the Dream Act, a bill sponsored by Sen. Orrin G. Hatch, Utah Republican, and the Student Adjustment Act, introduced by Rep. Lucille Roybal-Allard, California Democrat, which would repeal a federal law that discourages states from offering the children of illegal immigrants in-state tuition rates.
The bills also would grant a six-year grace period for illegal immigrants who grew up in the United States and graduated from a U.S. high school, during which they would be exempt from deportation. If they finished two years of college or served two years in the military in that period, they could earn permanent legal residence in the United States.
Mr. Hatch, who introduced the Dream Act in April 2003, gave a disappointed smile when asked about the chances of the bill passing this session.
“Well, obviously, I hope so, but it’s in a quagmire,” he said. “I’m not sure we’ll get any bill dealing with immigration through this year.”
Mr. Hatch was invited to speak at the rally by the protest sponsor, the Center for Community Change, but was unable to attend. The center, a 35-year-old lobbying group for laws benefiting low-income communities, has collected 100,000 signatures to send to President Bush urging his support for the two bills, said Deepak Bhargava, executive director of the organization.
Some of the students who spoke at the rally would not give their last names, saying they feared being identified by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. But no ICE agents were apparent at the rally, and an official with the agency wouldn’t comment on the rally or the bills.
Some of the students who participated in the rally said they are facing deportation.
Marie Gonzalez, 18, a high school senior from Jefferson City, Mo., said she is running out of time. She came to the United States with her parents from Costa Rica when she was 5. Upon graduating this year, she plans to attend Lindenwood University in St. Charles, Mo.
“We’ve been through hearings, interviews, several lawyers, and now we are awaiting a decision on our appeal,” she said. “Once the decision comes down, we will have 30 to 60 days to leave the country.”
In January, Mr. Bush proposed an immigration plan that includes an unspecified increase in legal immigration, as well as a guest-worker program that would allow illegal immigrants now in the United States and applicants still overseas to fill slots U.S. companies can’t fill with American workers. The guest-worker visa would be temporary, but renewable an unspecified number of times.
But some lawmakers on Capitol Hill have balked at the president’s plan, calling it an amnesty program for the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants in the country.
The bills face similar criticisms and in a presidential election year, despite broad bipartisan support for both, they have little chance of making it out of their respective House and Senate committees, let alone getting to the floor of either chamber for an up or down vote.
“I do not support the Dream Act. We should enforce the nation’s immigration laws,” said Sen. Jeff Sessions, Alabama Republican. “I am baffled why anyone would propose subsidies to illegal aliens that are not available to Americans. This legislation would provide an additional incentive for illegal immigration.”
Mrs. Roybal-Allard said it is unfair for the federal government to punish “innocent children,” denying them the chance to go to college because of decisions their parents made.
“I’m hoping the states will pass their own laws allowing immigrant students to get in-state tuition, but they still couldn’t apply for federal student loans,” she said.
Before 1996, states had sole purview over an applicant’s eligibility for in-state tuition. Congress then removed the states’ authority when it passed the Immigration Reform Act that year.
Hatch spokeswoman Margerita Tappia said the two bills would return authority to the states.
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