Florida\u2019s pro-immigration groups on Thursday blasted a new rule banning undocumented students from state colleges as \u201ccruel\u201d and potentially illegal.<\/p>\n
On a Zoom meeting, the coalition of legal entities and advocacy organizations called on the DeSantis administration to reconsider this week\u2019s education change, which outright outlawed state colleges from enrolling undocumented students.<\/p>\n
The state Board of Education\u2019s vote came days after Florida\u2019s other top education body, the Board of Governors, moved forward<\/a> with preventing these students from enrolling in state universities during the 2027-2028 school year.<\/p>\n \u201cOur biggest concern with this rule is, not only is it unnecessary, but is harmful \u2026 and likely illegal,\u201d said Alexis Tsoukalas, an immigration and labor analyst with the Florida Policy Institute. She estimated the change could cost the education system roughly $15 million in lost tuition and fees, insinuating that the rule could go against the Florida Constitution.<\/p>\n Although that document demands state officials provide a free public education for students, it\u2019s silent on attendance at higher education institutions.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Florida College System is open enrollment \u2014 it\u2019s not like there\u2019s students waiting in the wings,\u201d she added. Other Zoom attendees, including Miami-Dade School Board member Luisa Santos, called the change \u201ccruel.\u201d<\/p>\n In a telephone-only board meeting on Tuesday, the State Board of Education \u2014 with no debate or discussion from members \u2014 voted to require all students admitted to the state\u2019s 28 colleges to be U.S. citizens or \u201clawfully present in the United States.\u201d<\/p>\n The state colleges, once known as community colleges, must require students to present documentation before enrolling, the Phoenix previously reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n Gov. Ron DeSantis has led the nation both in crackdowns on undocumented immigration and revamping the higher education system. He was responsible for nixing in-state tuition rates for undocumented college students, banning DEI initiatives, and supporting the country\u2019s first state-run migrant detention center.<\/p>\n Florida\u2019s policies have been mirrored on the national stage by President Donald Trump, who embraced a widespread ban on DEI initiatives and pushed to eliminate temporary protected status for most migrants legally residing within the United States.<\/p>\n In September, Florida\u2019s Board of Governors will vote on whether to ban universities from enrolling undocumented students, as well.<\/p>\n ____<\/p>\n Florida Phoenix<\/a> is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Florida Phoenix maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Michael Moline for questions: info@floridaphoenix.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Florida\u2019s pro-immigration groups on Thursday blasted a new rule banning undocumented students from state colleges as \u201ccruel\u201d and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":325216,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[28,30,29],"class_list":["post-328699","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-florida","tag-florida","tag-florida-headlines","tag-florida-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/328699","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=328699"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/328699\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/325216"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=328699"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=328699"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=328699"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}