things that matter

Arizona’s Supreme Court Has Barred Universities From Offering DACA Students In-State Tuition

@azcentral / Twitter
By April 10, 2018 at 2:27 pm

Beneficiaries of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program are now facing a whole new battle. DACA recipients who live in Arizona will now have to pay out-of-state tuition in their home state, the Arizona Supreme Court ruled on April 9.

According to The Washington Post, 2,000 DACA recipients in Arizona — who either go to a state school or community in college — will now have to pay three times the amount. For example, The Post reports that tuition at Arizona State University is $9,834 for in-state students. For out-of-state students, tuition is $27,618. At Maricopa Community Colleges credit for Arizona residents is $86, for out-of-state students, it is $241.

Chief Justice Scott Bales said he made the ruling now to give Dreamers “as much time as possible for planning.” The full ruling will be made in mid-May, The Post reports.

Advocates are stunned by the decision to hinder the access to education for DACA recipients.

According to the National Immigration Law Center (NILC), 20 states and Washington D.C. offer “tuition equality” for undocumented people. Those states are California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oklahoma, Oregon, Rhode Island, Texas, Utah, and Washington.

For some people, the decision is a rallying cry to fight for a permanent solution for the undocumented community.

And many are very disappointed that the rights of DACA students are now in jeopardy.

DACA recipients are in large numbers students or in the workforce. They have no criminal records in order to qualify for DACA. Yet, DACA has been in the news as political figures have tried to muddy the water around DACA to tarnish the importance of the program.

Karina Ruiz, executive director of the Arizona Dream Act Coalition, gave a news conference following the announcement.

Ruiz said that the ruling “shows that the politicians are going to continue their attacks on our community.” She said the higher tuition is now going to hinder students from going to college. However, she added that her organization is going to raise money to help with the additional cost. “We’re going to find help for you.”


READ: First DACA Recipient To Be Deported Sues Trump Administration

What do you think about this tuition hike for Dreamers? Let us know in the comment section below!

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This DACA Recipient Was Assured He Could Get A Visa In Mexico To Start His Green Card Process But Got Denied

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This DACA Recipient Was Assured He Could Get A Visa In Mexico To Start His Green Card Process But Got Denied

National Immigration Law Center / Facebook
By Araceli Cruz April 11, 2018 at 10:53 am

Mexican-born Marco Villada traveled to his native country on the promise that in order to get his green card, he’d have to first get a visa from the U.S. consulate. It was the last step Marco needed to have full protection from deportation because his Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) status just wasn’t stable enough — at least not under the Trump Administration.

Villada is eligible for a green card because his husband, Israel Serrato, is a U.S. citizen. However, during his interview at the U.S. Consulate things didn’t go according to plan for the DACA recipient.

The U.S. Consulate denied Marco his visa, which meant he couldn’t return to the U.S. with his husband.

CREDIT: Facebook/National Immigration Law Center

Villada and his husband traveled to Mexico for two weeks in order to be interviewed at the U.S. Consulate and get his visa. He was promised re-entry to the U.S. through a provisional wavier provided by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) back in January.

In an op-ed in The Washington Post, writer Catherine Rampell notes that under U.S. law, U.S. citizens can sponsor green cards for their immigrant spouses, which is what Serrato intended to do for Villada. However, the immigrant in question must first go back to their birth country and apply for a visa through the U.S. Consulate in order to return. Then, they can continue the process of a green card legally.

“Leaving the country is risky, though,” Rampell writes. “Normally if you’ve spent more than six months here unlawfully and you leave, you’re barred from coming back for years. Sometimes forever.”

Villada left Mexico at the age of 6 and has been in the U.S. ever since. Now he’s with family that he’s never really known.

CREDIT: Facebook/National Immigration Law Center

“I’m an American stuck in the wrong country,” Villada said, according to the National Immigration Law Center (NILC). “I don’t belong here. I belong in Los Angeles. My husband, my family, my job, my life — everything is there.”

Serrato adds that Villada’s absence has devastated not just his life, but his family in the U.S. as well.

“This isn’t just hard on us, it’s impacting our family, Marco’s coworkers, and so many other people in our lives,” Serrato told NILC. “But despite all of this, we remain hopeful that our government will do the right thing and we will be together at home again soon.”

The 34-year-old is now suing the U.S. State Department and immigration services.

NILC states that the U.S. Consulate denied his visa on ungrounded terms.

“USCIS also failed to properly notify [Villada] that the information he provided in his visa application could render the provisional waiver he received invalid,” the NILC stated in a press release.

The lawsuit alleges that immigration services neglected to inform Villada that his waiver would be nullified based on his case.

“I don’t know if they were lazy and sloppy or looking for ways to trap people,” Villada’s lawyer Stacy Tolchin told The Washington Post. “Either way, they have an obligation to do their job, and they didn’t do it.”

“Immigrant youth like Marco are an inextricable part of our communities,” Nora Preciado, senior staff attorney at the NILC said in a released statement. “Marco is a loving spouse, a model employee, a brother to an active duty military member, and a vibrant member of the LGBTQ community. Our anti-immigrant policies don’t just hurt immigrants — they hurt all of us.”


READ: The Trump Administration Says It Won’t Protect DACA Recipients Unless Democrats Make Deals With Them

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politics, immigration, DACA, Immigration Rights, Mexico, DREAMers