The Arizona Chamber of Commerce and Industry is putting its support behind the bill aimed to reduce the college tuition rates for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) students.
According to KTAR News, the bill, which is being drafted by the state lawmakers, has received the backing of the chamber to lower tuitions for the undocumented students who wish to study in Arizona public colleges and universities.
The bill, if it becomes the law, will make college affordable for the DACA students studying in Arizona.
“We have long supported a complete federal resolution to the DACA issue, including a path to citizenship, but we also know that there are things that we can do on the state level,” Glenn Hamer, chamber president and CEO, told KTAR News. “[DACA students] have gone through our high schools and are ready to increase their skills by going to a community college or a university.”
Under DACA, students who arrive in the United States without documents as children are allowed to work and study and obtain protection from deportation. They are often called “DREAMers.”
The latest development comes in the backdrop of last year’s Arizona Supreme Court ruling wherein it scrapped the in-state tuition for students protected under DACA, affecting more than 2,000 students enrolled in various community colleges and three public universities.
In September 2017, the Trump administration had formally announced repealing of the program, which protected 800,000 immigrants from deportation. Last year, a federal court in Washington, D.C. overturned the federal order and called for the full reestablishment of the program.
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