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Texas A&M student senate approves bill against in-state tuition for illegals

Student senators at Texas A&M approved a student senate bill officially opposing in-state tuition with 41 votes for, 26 against and two abstaining Wednesday night amid campus protests outside.

Texas A&M currently has about 300 undocumented students out of a total enrollment of 49,000.

The “In-State Tuition Bill,” expresses student opposition to the current Texas state law that grants undocumented students in-state tuition at public state schools.

The bill’s purpose, as stated  in the text, is “to clarify what demographics receive in-state tuition and oppose measures to give in-state tuition to persons residing in the United States illegally.”

Texas has allowed undocumented students access to in-state tuition since 2001, when HB 1403 was passed, making Texas the first state to put such a program in place. This year, 12,381 undocumented students in the state benefited from the in-state tuition law, roughly 1 percent of the total student population.

The bill also states that making this change would be in accordance with U.S. Code Section 1623, which states that benefits afforded to undocumented immigrants must also be afforded to American citizens–in this case, the bill argues, the difference between illegal immigrants receiving in-state tuition, and non-Texan American citizens that must pay out-of-state-tuition. Currently, there are eight U.S. states that give undocumented immigrants access to in-state tuition.

In May, the bill was proposed and subsequently tabled.

Justin Pulliam, the senator who introduced the bill, said the recommendation would be sent to federal and state officials for legislative consideration.

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