In-state tuition plan for young immigrants fails to get vote

Another bill that missed the Crossover Day deadline would have allowed young immigrants who have been granted a reprieve from deportation to pay in-state tuition at Georgia colleges and universities.

House Bill 120 would have applied to participants in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA. The program, which the Obama administration created in 2012, grants renewable two-year work permits and temporary deportation deferrals to immigrants who were brought here before turning 16, are attending school here and have no felony convictions.

The bill’s sponsor, state Rep. Kasey Carpenter, R-Dalton, tried to sell the measure as addressing a “workforce development issue.”

“We have invested in these kids already through K-12 education,” Carpenter said in January when he proposed the bill.

As of 2019, 21,110 people in Georgia were participating in DACA.

But HB 120 never got a vote on the House floor.

About 30 Republicans strongly opposed the measure, which may have fallen victim to a disinformation campaign.

Critics, including conservative pundit Phil Kent, claimed it would attract immigrants who came to the country illegally.

But the measure specified that in-state tuition would be limited to students who are younger than 30, have been in the United States since at least 2013, and graduated from a Georgia high school or obtained Georgia GED diplomas.

It went on to state, “Nothing in this Code section shall be construed to require in-state tuition classification for individuals not lawfully present in Georgia.”

Carpenter wasn’t quite ready to call the legislation dead.

“The last time I checked, the Legislature stopped at Day 40 and not Day 28,” he said. “Any time Phil Kent wants to know the truth about the bill, he can call me.”