New joint report details challenging state tuition-equity policies and impacts on Dreamer students, colleges, and states.
Watch event recording HERE and read the new report HERE
Washington, DC – Today, TheDream.US, MALDEF, and the Presidents’ Alliance on Higher Education and Immigration hosted a virtual press event outlining the coordinated federal effort to dismantle state tuition-equity policies that allow eligible Dreamers the chance to afford and attend college. The speakers highlighted the latest legal and policy details and implications of the Department of Justice lawsuits against policies in 24 states and Washington, DC and noted the collective harms of the lawsuits.
During the event, the organizations released a new joint report, The Coordinated Assault Against Dreamers’ Access to Tuition Equity, detailing the legal and policy landscape across affected states, the status of ongoing challenges, and the broader consequences for Dreamer students, higher education institutions, workforce development, and state economies.
On the virtual event and in the report, TheDream.US also shared new data on 8,800 Scholars and Alumni living in the 24 states and Washington, DC affected by the DoJ lawsuits, highlighting their deep ties and ongoing contributions to these states. Notably, the median age of arrival to the U.S. among the 8,800 Scholars and Alumni is just 4 years old and close to 4,500 are now college graduates, working and contributing to their communities as teachers, nurses, social workers, and innovators in the states that raised them.
Thomas A. Saenz, President and General Counsel of MALDEF, said: “This scurrilous national litigation campaign scapegoats and penalizes immigrants who have proven to be tremendous contributors to our community and economy. Moreover, the Department of Justice should never engage in litigation tactics designed to prevent any legal defense of state laws that have been on the books as long as a quarter century. This illegitimate legal assault on tuition equity must end.”
Miriam Feldblum, President and CEO of the Presidents’ Alliance on Higher Education and Immigration, said: “For more than two decades, states across the country have adopted tuition equity policies, reflecting bipartisan recognition of their educational and economic value. Today, that progress faces an unprecedented, coordinated challenge that threatens students’ ability to afford college and institutions’ ability to retain students they have recruited, taught, and advised. This should be a wake-up call for higher education: protecting these policies helps students complete degrees and enables states to retain the talent they have educated.”
Gaby Pacheco, President and CEO of TheDream.US, said: “The Dreamers and our Scholars these lawsuits target aren’t outsiders. They are our students, our neighbors, and our future. The median age of arrival among our 8,800 Scholars and Alumni in these states is just four years old. They grew up here and are deeply embedded. They call these communities home. Making college harder to afford doesn’t just hurt their dreams. It hurts all of us and the country they are helping build.”