DACA recipients rally for rights at Capitol
They call on lawmakers to let voters decide eligibility for in-state tuition
DACA recipients urge state leaders to allow them to qualify for in-state tuition at event by Aliento.
Dozens of people gathered at the Arizona state Capitol on Wednesday to rally for undocumented students who have been in the United States for years, calling on state leaders to allow them to qualify for in-state tuition.
The event was organized by Aliento, an organization supporting the undocumented immigrants and students who are in the U.S. under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA.
Many DACA recipients, also known as “dreamers,” came to the U.S. as small children and consider Arizona the only home they’ve known.
Demonstrators at Wednesday’s rally called on Arizona legislators to give voters an opportunity to decide to allow all Arizona high school graduates, whether documented or not, to be eligible for in-state tuition and merit-based scholarships.
In 2018, the Arizona Supreme Court ruled Arizona col
leges can’t give in-state tuition to young immigrants covered under the DACA program.
The justices unanimously upheld an Arizona Court of Appeals’ ruling that said existing federal and state laws don’t allow in-state tuition rates for DACA recipients.
“The legislature might not be in session but over 2,000 students who just graduated high school are still here, still waiting, still uncertain, because of an outdated proposition and our lack of initiative,” said Raji Ganesan, an Arizona high school teacher who addressed the gathering.
Approximately 2,000 “dreamers” and undocumented students graduate from Arizona high schools each year and make the difficult decision to pay the expenses of out-of-state tuition at a state community college or university, or stop their education.
“A valedictorian, a young undocumented student, is at home unable to take any steps forward with her pursuit of a higher education because we, as a constituency, have failed to make urgent a valid measure that could reopen the doors that we have shut,” Ganesan said, referring to one of her previous students.
Blanca Sierra, who has lived in the United States since the age of six and is an undocumented student, has faced that question of how to pay for out-of-state tuition.
In the spring of 2013, Sierra became eligible for in-state tuition through her DACA registration; she transferred to ASU and completed her bachelor’s degree. She was paying the same amount of money for one class of out-of-state tuition as she was for full-time, instate
“We ... have failed to make urgent a valid measure that could reopen the doors that we have shut.”
tuition, Sierra said.
However, in the year she began her master’s degree, DACA recipients’ eligibility for in-state tuition was taken away, and she once again faced financial burdens. But with help from her job, family and outside scholarships she was able to complete her master’s degree in social work with a 4.0 GPA.
Sierra is now part of the only 3% of undocumented and DACA students in the nation that have a master’s degree or higher, according to Aliento.
“Arizona voters and Arizona legislature have the power to ensure all Arizona high school graduates are eligible for in-state tuition regardless of their immigration status,” Sierra said.
Saul Rascon Salazar, another guest speaker, is a “dreamer” who graduated from Brophy College Preparatory and was looking forward to attending ASU. But he couldn’t turn down a full-ride scholarship to Loyola Marymount University in California when ASU would charge him out-of-state tuition rates.
“If it was up to me, I would have attended Barrett College at Arizona State University. Unfortunately, due to the lack of opportunities for students like me in Arizona, I will be going to California and positively impact their economy, workforce, and state in general,” Rascon Salazar said.
Aliento plans to continue as a strong coalition of support for “dreamers” and undocumented immigrants.
“This is about community. This is about our students,” founder and CEO of Aliento Reyna Montoya said.