Senate bill that could nix in-state tuition for undocumented migrants receives partisan pushback

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Florida lawmakers have convened for a Special Session this week to tackle President Donald Trump’s executive orders cracking down on illegal immigration.

Sarasota Republican Sen. Joe Gruters introduced and Sen. Randy Fine co-introduced Senate Bill 2-B, which would put certain provisions into Florida law that could help carry out the Trump administration’s plan to begin deporting undocumented migrants.

One provision, which Fine added, would cut off undocumented migrants living in the Sunshine State from accessing in-state tuition if passed.

The provision was met with pushback from Orlando Democratic Sen. Carlos Guillermo Smith, who questioned how the bill would affect those who entered the U.S. as children and have lived in Florida their entire lives.

Smith asked what these young people have done wrong to have their tuition cut, to which Fine responded it was “immoral” to give benefits to undocumented immigrants, while out-of-state Americans pay more.

“I think this is a simple fact; it is immoral to charge an illegal immigrant a lower price for a product or service, than we charge an American,” Fine said, “And that is what is going on here. If you are an American from any of the 49 states, if you live in Thomasville, Georgia, and the closest great university to you is Florida State, and you want to go to a university that’s 45 minutes from your house — you’re going to pay three times as much as someone who shouldn’t even be in the country.”

Smith said he wanted to “pushback” on what Fine had said about providing tuition being immoral and again asked what these young people had done to have an opportunity at a higher education taken away. Fine responded by saying those children were “victims of human smuggling.”

“The kids that you’re talking about here, are victims,” Fine said, “They’re victims of human smuggling, and they are. But we talk about these children as though they were magically teleported into this country, and they were not. They had people who knowingly broke the law to bring them here.”

Fine added that the responsibility for these children does not belong to the Legislature, and further noted the responsibility does not belong to the people of Florida, who reportedly pay $40 million per year for the subsidies. Fine said undocumented migrants are also taking available spaces at state universities and colleges, and Floridians are missing out.