Lawmakers consider financial aid for Dreamers

HARTFORD — As Congress debates the fate of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals residents, state lawmakers are considering a bill that would allow immigrant children who have grown up in Connecticut to receive financial aid at state colleges.

Carolina Bortolleto, a spokeswoman for CT Students for a Dream and Danbury resident, said the group plans to pack a public hearing schedule for Tuesday on a bill that would allow financial aid.

“In Connecticut, public colleges and universities set aside a proportion of tuition revenue to be used as ‘institutional aid’ to assist students with financial need,” Bortolleto said. “However, immigrant students who have grown up in Connecticut and have graduated high school in Connecticut are not eligible for this student-generated aid even though they contribute to these funds through their tuition.

“The Afford To Dream Bill would equalize access to student-generated institutional aid and end Connecticut’s ‘All pay and NO aid’ financial aid system for immigrant students,” Bortolleto said.

The bill, proposed by the Higher Education Committee, would allow children living in the state under the DACA protection to receive financial aid.

President Donald Trump canceled the Obama-era executive order last year and their protected status is set to end in March if lawmakers do not pass a law granting them protection.

The so-called Dreamers are the children of illegal immigrants who were brought to the U.S. and in many cases the youth have no ties to their country of origin.