The Florida House of Representatives convened this week for a special session to discuss all-things illegal immigration. With President Donald Trump’s (R) executive orders cracking down on illegal immigrants, the focus of the conversation relied heavily on how students would be affected.
Florida Rep. Lawrence McClure (R) laid out the bill at hand – HB 1-B: Immigration.
The bill, among many things, identifies the Commissioner of Agriculture as the chief immigration officer, creates the Office of State Immigration Enforcement, and addresses noncitizen voting.
Florida Rep. McClure, who sponsored the bill outlined that the November election proved that Americans “want our borders enforced and dangerous illegal aliens removed from the country.”
“President Trump has taken decisive action to advance this goal and has asked the state for assistance,” Florida Rep. McClure added, affirming that “we here in the state of Florida are stepping up aggressively.”
Democrats pushed back against the bill, questioning the financial repercussions that the state could face as well as the trauma it could induce on students.
When questioned if the bill would allow officials to enter schools to pick up migrant students, Florida Rep. McClure rejected the idea.
“Every student has the right to an education,” the Florida congressman responded, adding that despite the state not having the jurisdiction to tell ICE want to do, “you can’t currently under law do that, and there’s nothing in here that allows to do that.”
Another issue that the bill addresses is migrant students being able to pay in-state tuition for schooling.
The bill enforces that migrant children will not benefit from in-state tuition, which is something that has angered Democrat lawmakers like Florida Rep. Anna V. Eskamani (D), who is also running for Orlando Mayor.
“These are kids that are so incredibly patriotic, and they love this country so much. It’s not their fault that they don’t have status,” she commented before introducing an amendment that would allow students to pay in-state tuition.
The amendment was voted down.
In response to arguments pointing out that migrant students would lose out on in-state tuition, Florida Rep. Fabian Basabe (R) countered by bringing up that “there are a lot of opportunities out there” that wouldn’t include in-state tuition.
With opportunities like merit-based essays, crowdfunding, and private scholarships, the Florida Republican argued that migrant students can still benefit from financial assistance.
“I don’t appreciate the emotional strings being attached,” he countered.
