Juan Orellana, a member of Georgia Undocumented Youth Alliance (GUYA), said DACA students are trying to find their place in Georgia’s University System. However, when it comes to undocumented students, “everything’s been closed.”
After the Georgia State and Georgia Perimeter College (GPC) consolidation, approved on Jan. 6, it is unclear what will happen to the GPC undocumented students based on a Board of Regents’ (BOR) policy.
In BOR Policy 4.1.6, people “not lawfully present” are ineligible for admission into universities which previously have not accepted all applicants. Georgia State is one of five Georgia schools that does not admit undocumented students under this policy.
Transitioning into the consolidation
Sebastian Parra, president of Georgia State’s Student Government Association (SGA), has been involved in advocacy against the policy because he said he thinks “it’s segregation” to deny admittance to undocumented students, such as those falling under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival (DACA) policy.
“We’re segregating students and we’re finding the perfect excuse under legal statutes to segregate them from education,” Parra said.
While GPC admits undocumented students who pay out-of-state tuition, Georgia State’s policies on not allowing undocumented students attend will not change, according to the university’s webpage.
Parra volunteers with Freedom University and Freedom GSU. He said he drafted a letter making the case for in-state tuition to the BOR for the Student Advisory Council, which is composed of every SGA student in the University System of Georgia (USG). The letter has the support of 20 out of 24 SGA presidents.
Freedom University is an Atlanta-based civil rights advocacy group. It provides undocumented students with college-level courses and works with other universities to make higher education more accessible.
Freedom GSU is a new group on campus, Parra said, which has put posters up around plaza and worn t-shirts asking “Do I look illegal?”
Parra said the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has granted DACA students lawful presence because they pay taxes, have driver’s licenses, work permits and social security numbers. However, this hasn’t stopped Policy 4.1.6.
Regarding worries of undocumented GPC students possibly being displaced after the consolidation, Parra said the answer stands on shaky ground.
Georgia State President Mark Becker hasn’t said anything publicly about what will happen to GPC’s DACA students “because it’s so wishy-washy,” Parra said.
GUYA challenged the 4.1.6 ruling in 2013. According to GUYA member Maria Carrillo, the student-run organization focuses on informing people about the policy and pushing for in-state tuition for DACA-eligible and other undocumented students.
As far as what happens after the consolidation, Orellana says there hasn’t been much in the way of dialogue.
“There’s no ban on in-state tuition for Deferred Action students, but there is a specific policy that was set in place a long time ago for undocumented students…With in-state tuition, we’re trying to find an opening in there, whereas with undocumented students, everything’s been closed,” he said.
This silence perpetuates the “rumors that we might get kicked out or displaced from GPC,” according to Carrillo.
“How can they just displace us when you put in all your money into it and your time? I’ve been here for two years…There’s no guarantee that I won’t have to pay for more classes [if they don’t transfer]…That’s very problematic for most of the people because they can’t afford to retake their classes if they haven’t finished their Associate’s,” she said.
Working to change government policy
GUYA’s Student Organizer Rigoberto Rivera and others sued the BOR for in-state tuition. The oral arguments were presented on Oct. 16. As of yet, the Supreme Court of Georgia has yet to release a decision on Olvera et al. v. University System of Georgia’s Board of Regents et al.
Rivera said GUYA plans to revise SB 44, a bill titled “Education; noncitizen students; same consideration as citizens of U.S.; determining whether they qualify for in-state classification; tuition and fees,” which proposes in-state tuition for DACA students in both the University System and Technical College System of Georgia.
GUYA’s revision is to allow undocumented Georgia high school graduates in-state tuition to Georgia universities. Then, they will lobby for sponsors.
Opposition to allowing DACA students in-state tuition tends to come in the form of a few arguments: doing so is a burden on taxpayers, illegal and the undocumented will have problems finding jobs if their status hasn’t changed by graduation are a few.
However, according to the Institute on Taxation & Economic Policy (ITEP), Georgia’s undocumented immigrants paid 351.8 million dollars in state and local taxes in 2012.
As for the illegality of allowing in-state tuition, a Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) document says that this violates Section 505 of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 (IIRAIRA).
Section 505 states any illegal immigrant without lawful presence is ineligible for college benefits citizens or nationals don’t have access to. While this doesn’t specifically focus on in-state tuition, the document goes on to say the House of Representatives interprets it this way.
To counter this, ten states have decided not to apply this policy. Along with those who consider it a disregard of states’ rights, they’ve gotten around Section 505 by using “graduation from an in-state high school as the main criteria for residency.”
Parra said the letter he’s drafted to the BOR will show if they will ignore the official representatives of all Georgia’s students.
During an anti-racism speak-out on campus held on Nov. 10, DACA students were also in attendance. They said Becker didn’t care about them. Carrillo elaborated on this sentiment.
“We haven’t been part of [the meetings]. It just shows that they don’t really care about undocumented students at GPC whatsoever; and if they had, they would’ve told us to be part of the conversation. It didn’t happen because…the President doesn’t really care about us,” Carrillo said.
Despite the uncertainties facing DACA students, Carrillo said GUYA is still working to keep students updated, and is grateful for the support from GSU students.
“We’re trying to be optimistic about it, about how things are going,” Carrillo said.
Parra said he wants to see anyone, especially the African-American community, advocate for this issue.
“I would encourage our African-American community to open their eyes and learn about this issue of discrimination against undocumented people, that their struggle 60 years ago is [undocumented students’] struggle today, and we’re just trying to be educated,” Parra said. “So please help us. Help us build a coalition so our politicians will listen, that this is not what we should stand for.”
The Signal was unable to obtain a response from the Board of Regents by press date.
