In-state tuition would be offered to any undocumented students who graduated from or completed at least three years of high school in Indiana. It would also extend to those who enrolled in a state educational institution starting in the fall semester of the 2016-17 academic year.
Marlene Dotson, CEO and president of the Indiana Latino Institute, said approximately 17,000 undocumented students currently live in Indiana and, by forcing them to pay out-of-state tuition, the state is blocking their access to higher education.
“The normal family cannot afford to pay out-of-state tuition, and these students do not qualify for federal aid and student loans,” Dotson said. “We’re preventing students from going to college.”
Indiana is home to roughly 85,000 undocumented immigrants, according to a 2013 study by the Pew Research Center. Offering in-state tuition, dialysis and driver’s licenses is a matter of giving equal opportunity to this portion of the population rather than unwarranted advantages or free rides, said Lillian Casillas, director of La Casa Latino Cultural Center at IU.
“It’s not like we’re saying, ‘Here’s a free house and a car,’” Casillas said. “It’s more so that we’re wanting to hold them to the same standards as everybody else.”
Equality is imperative to ensure the undocumented immigrants have a means of supporting themselves and giving back to the economy, which in turn mutually benefits taxpayers and citizens living alongside them, Casillas said.
If the new legislation passed, Indiana would become the 11th state to issue driver’s licenses to undocumented immigrants.
“I want to know that the people out driving on the street are licensed and protected,” Casillas said. “I want to know that we aren’t creating a class of people who are uneducated and underemployed that maybe in the future, because of poverty, might have to utilize services.”
Although immigration has been a central topic in the media and GOP candidate speeches recently, Dotson said the portrait being painted of immigrants perpetuates negative stereotypes.
“Immigrants are being portrayed as a problem for Americans,” Dotson said. “There’s a perception that they are a problem in our country. It’s injected into our society’s mind on a daily basis.”
The contributions of undocumented immigrants to Indiana’s economy — $108.9 million in state and local taxes and $2.8 billion in economic activity — are substantial but often unrecognized, Casillas said.
“We benefit,” Casillas said. “Our lifestyles are influenced by it. A lot of undocumented workers are the ones doing our services and putting food on our tables. Despite the image that these are people who just abuse the system, when you look at the data these people are less likely to use any of the social services.”
These changes would undo some provisions of S.B. 590, a 2011 bill that placed restrictions on undocumented people living in Indiana.
A section of S.B. 590 authorizing warrantless arrests was already deemed unconstitutional and overturned in 2013.
“As a community — as a whole — we need to focus on the positive part of making this bill pass and how this will affect not only Indiana but our country,” Dotson said. “By passing this bill we will be empowering many, many young Latinos.”
