Missouri: Pending bill prohibiting illegal immigrants from attending college

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Mo. bill would bar illegal immigrants from colleges
By Lee Logan
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
Thursday, Mar. 13 2008

JEFFERSON CITY — Public colleges and universities would be barred from enrolling illegal immigrants under a bill given first-round approval Wednesday by the House.

The proposal would require colleges to certify that they have not knowingly
enrolled illegal immigrants before they can receive state money.

The bill's sponsor, Rep. Jerry Nolte, R-Gladstone, said federal law already barred illegal immigrants from attending public colleges.

"Our state-supported institutions should also be required to obey the law," he said.

Several Democrats said the proposal was a divisive one that did not solve a real problem.

House Minority Leader Paul LeVota, D-Independence, said the bill would not address what he called the state's real immigration issue: businesses that hire illegal immigrants.

"People don't come to the state of Missouri so they can go to college, they come to work," he said. "This bill does nothing to solve these problems."

Nolte said he was simply protecting the rule of law: "We are doing something. We're holding these institutions accountable."

The House still must vote on the measure once more before sending it to the Senate. The bill is the first immigration proposal to be taken up for debate in either chamber.

Under the bill, colleges would have to show their verification processes to funding committees in the House and Senate. No specific penalty provisions are outlined in the proposal, but lawmakers could withhold some of a college's funding for violating the guidelines.

Nolte referred to previous testimony from the Missouri Community College Association on a similar bill, which ultimately failed. Asked by legislators at the time to estimate the number of illegal immigrants enrolled at community colleges statewide, a representative from the association pegged the number at roughly 200 — but also noted that was out of 200,000 total students.

On Wednesday, James Kellerman, executive director of the association, said in an interview that colleges don't knowingly admit illegal immigrants and that it was impossible to know for sure how many are in classes.

He pointed to Marie Gonzalez, who gained national attention when her parents were deported in 2005 for not renewing their visas. The family had been living in Jefferson City for more than 10 years, and she had graduated from an area high school.

"Had she gone to one of our community colleges, we would have admitted her," he said. "We wouldn't have had a clue of the circumstances."

Nolte said he was unable to get any concrete enrollment estimates from four-year universities. He added that several colleges, including the University of Missouri, had procedures in place that would satisfy the bill's requirements.

A 1996 federal law prohibits states from offering in-state tuition to illegal immigrants unless they provide the same discount to residents from other states.

Ten states, however, have passed versions of the so-called DREAM act, which gives in-state tuition to illegal immigrants who have resided in a state for a certain number of years. Those states include four of Missouri's neighbors: Illinois, Kansas, Nebraska and Oklahoma.

Legislators voted on the bill after rejecting an amendment from Rep. Ed Wildberger, D-St. Joseph, that would have exempted community colleges.

"I'm trying to figure out why you want to punish children for their parents' mistakes," he said in a terse exchange with Nolte. "They should at least have the opportunity to go to community college."

The bill is HB1463.

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sigh...its so common now...makes me sad.

voted. 83% voted no

idiots, its unconstitutional. when will these people learn?

it already passed here in SC.

It's not unconstitutional. The law you're referring to is the one decided by Plyler v. Doe where children are allowed a free education from K-12 grade regardless of status. There is no federal law that says illegal immigrants can not attend college, so Missouri trying to pass this law would not be unconstitutional, but in our opinion and the opinion of many others, doing such a thing is completely unjust.

What else are we going to do? School, not in this state... work, can't. So that leaves us just to rot away and possibly do more harm than good to ourselves. Of course, if this does pass, people living Missouri can try to go to another state and study there... although that in itself is very difficult because of obvious reasons. Stupid senators don't have anything better to do than to pick on us who came here when we didn't even know what a college/university was.

I am confident that if this matter is ever brought in front of the supreme court it will be stuck down as unconstitutional, because only the Federal government can say if someone is illegal or not. By the time that happens though we will be legal

Move out from there and go up to NY. You're wasting your life living in a state filled with bigots.

The immigrant-rights groups should take this matter up to the courts. Just because these stupid laws get passed doesn't mean that they will remain. In CA, Proposition 187 (denies emergency health services and education to illegals) passed in the 90s, overwhelmingly, but the courts struck it down.

Besides, immigrants can just move to states that allow you to go to college. There's no use in withstanding something like that. You're already paying out-of-state or denied college.. Might as well move.

If that's passed, then ladies and gentlemen, I say it's time to move out of that state.

Virginia is about to pass a similar bill in the General Assembly also. I know that University of Virginia requires the proof of citizenship in order to attend when accepted. Those hoity-toity white southerners and their ignorant views.

wow, truly idiotic. What they hell are these people trying to do, create a class of nobodies? Why the hell do they insist on victimizing the children of illegals? The right to an education should be sacred, untouchable.