Undocumented but undisturbed: State law may help illegal immigrants avoid INS crackdown at colleges

When the Texas Legislature passed a law last spring to help more undocumented immigrants attend college, the notion that a band of terrorists could bring down the World Trade Center seemed like Hollywood fiction.

In Texas -- with its large population of illegal Hispanic immigrants who are actively courted by politicians and educators -- this has led to questions over whether undocumented college students should be monitored the same way as foreign students on visas.

After Sept. 11, the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service was criticized for failing to adequately monitor the 575,000 foreign students attending college in the United States.

Three of the 19 hijackers who commandeered and crashed the four planes had been in the United States on student visas. Exactly six months after the attacks, the INS sent letters approving visas for two of the hijackers believed to have flown planes into the World Trade Center and Pentagon.

President Bush and many federal legislators angrily demanded that the INS keep a closer watch on foreign students, and several reforms have been enacted this year.

But in Texas, some legislators and educators hope that the INS continues to turn a blind eye to hundreds of undocumented students who are being helped by a 2001 law.

The law allows undocumented students to pay lower in-state tuition at public universities if they graduated from a Texas high school, lived in Texas for three years and plan to apply for lawful immigration status. For the first time, Texas public universities and community colleges have an easily accessible list of undocumented students.

After Sept. 11, Congress ordered background checks on students wishing to study in the United States from seven countries that sponsor terrorism. Also, universities must develop software by the end of January to electronically track the whereabouts and academic progress of foreign students on student visas.

The federal agency has made no request for information on undocumented students.

"As far as INS is concerned, it is a state issue," INS spokesman Chris Bentley said.

But even if the INS were to ask for such information, some Texas educators would apparently be reluctant to provide it.

"I've talked to some schools who have said that if they were requested to give the records to INS they would do it, but others said they wouldn't," said Lois Hollis, assistant commissioner for student services at the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, a state agency that oversees higher education policy.

"It's an issue they (administrators) have thought about," she said. "It was discussed before Sept. 11, and Sept. 11 made people revisit it."

Hollis said some Texas educators believe that providing such information to the INS would defeat the purpose of the bill, which is to encourage undocumented students to pursue a college education.

"What do you do if students fear filing for lower tuition because they don't want to be caught and sent back?" she said. "I feel sorry for those kids."

But activists who believe in restricting immigration scoff at the contention that undocumented students should not be monitored.

"We think there is a very clear connection between our ability to control our borders against illegal immigration and national security," said Jack Martin, special projects director for the Washington, D.C.-based Federation for American Immigration Reform, an organization that opposes in-state tuition for undocumented students.

"The only way we will be able to improve national security is by having a less permissive policy toward dealing with people who are illegally in the country," he said.

Texas educators and legislators also argue that because undocumented immigrants in Texas are overwhelmingly Hispanic, there is little to worry about.

State Rep. Rick Noriega, D-Houston, who drafted the law, said he is deeply concerned about maintaining safety after Sept. 11, pointing out that as a 20-year veteran of the Texas Army National Guard he was mobilized as a reservist for homeland security. But he said there is no reason to harm undocumented students in Texas over such concerns.

"To my knowledge, the culprits of Sept. 11 weren't brought here by their parents seeking the American way of life, whether legally or illegally, from any of the Latin American countries," Noriega said. "It would be a real travesty to join those two separate issues because what will happen is that the long-term social impact on our state will be severe."

Jerry Wilcox, director of the international office at the University of Texas, which has the nation's fourth-largest foreign student population with more than 4,500 students, also said that Hispanics are not likely to be terrorists.

"The bulk of the people who take advantage of (the Texas law) are all going to be folks who came from Mexico or Central America," Wilcox said. "You get to read the paper just like me. These are not folks who are angry with the government."

Arab-American groups take umbrage at the insinuation that some nationalities are more susceptible to committing terrorism.

"Obviously we're against racial, ethnic or religious profiling of any sort, and this would seem to be part of the overall phenomenon of saying there are some good ethnic groups and some bad ethnic groups, and public officials get to determine which those are," said Ibrahim Hooper, spokesman for the Washington, D.C.-based Council on American-Islamic Relations.

Although it may be true that students who take advantage of the Texas law might be overwhelmingly Hispanic, this may not be true nationwide.

Texas was the first state to pass a statewide law permitting undocumented immigrants to pay in-state tuition, and California followed suit in October 2001.

Several other states are contemplating passing similar measures, including New York, where the undocumented immigrant population is much more diverse.

The City University of New York had a policy dating back to 1989 to allow undocumented people to pay in-state tuition, but it removed the policy in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks.

A CUNY spokesman said lawyers determined that the policy violated a federal law that prohibits noncitizens from having advantages in higher education that citizens cannot enjoy. Texas and California addressed this issue by requiring undocumented students to have attended a Texas high school and lived in the state for three years, higher standards for residency than for citizens.

The New York proposal, which was recently endorsed by Gov. George Pataki, would have a similar provision, said CUNY spokesman Michael Arena.

Under federal law, undocumented children cannot be denied access to public primary and secondary schools. A large number of undocumented students graduate from Texas high schools -- sometimes as stellar students -- but, legislators argued, previous laws prevented many such students from pursuing college degrees.

Before the 2001 law, Texas residency status could be granted only to legal immigrants, which meant undocumented students had to pay much higher out-of-state tuition to attend public universities. Since many of these students are poor and have to take low-paying black-market jobs, they could not afford to go to college, legislators argued. Following the lead of the Dallas and Houston community college systems, which, on their own, passed policies permitting undocumented students to pay lower tuition, the Legislature last year forced all Texas public universities and community colleges to do the same.

Legislators estimated that up to 2,500 undocumented students would take advantage of the law.

According to the coordinating board, 400 undocumented students took advantage of the law in fall 2001, the most recent records available.

Houston-area colleges have a large percentage of these students. Last fall, 27 undocumented students were granted lower tuition at San Jacinto College, 17 in the Houston Community College System, 16 at the University of Houston's main campus, 13 in the North Harris Montgomery Community College District, 12 at the University of Houston-Downtown and one at Texas Southern University.

Federal laws guaranteeing student privacy could complicate the legalities of whether Texas institutions would have to report information on undocumented students to the INS if it were requested, Hollis said.

Three Texas educational administrators were asked whether they would report such information.

Ed Apodaca, enrollment director at the University of Houston, said he would do so because under "a time of war" such as the present the INS has the right to additional information on students.

Emmett Pugh, HCCS admissions director, would say only that the issue "hasn't gotten to that point."

Wilcox, who said he applauded the Legislature for passing the law, declined to comment on whether UT would report undocumented students.

The numbers of students who have taken advantage of state law do not necessarily reflect the total number of undocumented people in public universities.

Like universities in other states, Texas universities ask students about their residency status primarily to decide which ones are eligible for financial aid or work-study programs.

Students who are not citizens or permanent residents are automatically classified as international students. Wilcox, Pugh and other officials said it is possible to determine from this pool of international students which are documented and which are not, but it would be a labor-intensive effort because such data are currently not systematically classified.

"I think they probably don't know how many undocumented students they have," she said, "and (they) don't want to know."

Since many of these students are poor and have to take low-paying black-market jobs, they could not afford to go to college, legislators argued.

There is absolutely no excuse for these students to be poor and be forced to take jobs that Americans won't do. Especially not in Texas - the land of compassionate conservatism.

We must immediately raise taxes to insure that these darling children get a fair shake at education while working part time flipping 'burgers at a spanish speaking only McDonalds for 100K a year.

I can just see Boosh breaking out in a big smile if he reads this. [/sarcasm]

"Arab-American groups take umbrage at the insinuation that some nationalities are more susceptible to committing terrorism. "

Gee, why would anyone think that?

I have no compassion anymore. I am insulted that our lawmakers pass legislation that make me, my kids, and my grandkids second class citizens to illegal aliens.

That's OK. I'll get even in 2004. Just watch my smoke!! These politicians better get a whole bunch of Hispanic votes to make up for the votes they are losing from their base. The same base that put them in office to begin with.

ADIOS JORGE!!

First there were the bonding exercises, in which participants shared ethnic pride.

Can you believe that? That is my laugh for the day.

I think I am going to bond with some beef and chicken today and BBQ it!! Sorry - no goat today!!

"Arab-American groups take umbrage

Why don't they have to pay for it, like the rest of us....

That's OK. I'll get even in 2004.

I will not vote for Jorge either. I wish there was someone else to vote for.

I had to show my s.s. card to renew my TDL. (Birthday today) I am Blonde and Blue eyed. I played heck getting
a copy of my ss card because I was born overseas in Japan to American parents I moved back to Texas at 6 weeks old.

But since the unimaginable happened Sept. 11, concerns have surfaced over the extraordinary measures that have been undertaken to improve homeland security. A growing worry is that illegal immigrants will have fewer opportunities to pursue college degrees in the United States. In Texas -- with its large population of illegal Hispanic immigrants who are actively courted by politicians and educators -- this has led to questions over whether undocumented college students should be monitored the same way as foreign students on visas.

These politicians have sold out this country. They should never be rewarded with reelection. Never.

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