For Immediate Release: January 28, 2025
Contact: Michael Earls at [email protected] or Kenia Guerrero at [email protected]
TheDream.US and Presidents’ Alliance: Strengthen Florida’s Future By Maintaining Dreamers’ In-State Tuition Policy
Access a new factsheet on why Florida’s in-state tuition policy strengthens the state HERE
Miami, FL – Today, the Florida legislature will take up an immigration bill during its special session on immigration. As the Miami Herald noted, instead of advancing an immigration bill Gov. DeSantis had recently called for, “lawmakers are holding their own special session … to support President Donald Trump’s immigration agenda by passing a bill that they’re calling the ‘Tackling and Reforming Unlawful Migration Policy (TRUMP) Act.’”
Yet by including a measure to bar Florida Dreamers from accessing in-state tuition rates at Florida colleges and universities, a policy signed into law by then Governor Rick Scott in 2014, the legislators threaten to undermine the future of Florida and restrict the opportunities of these young Floridians in a manner at odds with the recent comments of President Trump. In December 2024, President Trump said on NBC News, “We have to do something about the Dreamers, because these are people that have been brought here at a very young age… In many cases they’ve become successful. They have great jobs. Some of them are running small businesses… we’re going to have to do something with them.”
The following is a statement from Gaby Pacheco, President and CEO of TheDream.US and a Florida resident since 1993: “Florida lawmakers should strengthen our state’s future by keeping our current tuition fairness law for Dreamers in place. Thanks to this policy, more than 600 of our former Florida-based TheDream.US Scholars are now college graduates, with the vast majority of them putting their degrees to work in the state as doctors, teachers, small business owners and more. Cutting off Dreamers’ opportunities to pursue and afford higher education is not only harmful to their future success, but shortsighted and harmful to Florida’s overall future and potential economic growth.”
According to Monica Andrade, Director of State Policy and Legal Strategy at the Presidents’ Alliance for Higher Education & Immigration: “The future economic competitiveness and vitality of Florida and the nation will be improved by maintaining policies and opportunities for Dreamers. At our member institutions in Florida and across America, the presence of Dreamers enriches the learning experience, fuels the workforce, and advances the mission of higher education as a generator of talent and engine of social mobility.”
Below, find a collection of resources and materials on why Florida’s in-state tuition fairness law strengthens the state:
- Read the new fact sheet, “Six critical reasons why keeping this policy is beneficial for Florida”
- Check out, “Florida’s In-State Tuition for Dreamers: What You Need to Know”
- Access the new website resource page: “Support Florida’s Future: Keep In-state Tuition For Dreamers”
The nonpartisan, nonprofit Presidents’ Alliance on Higher Education and Immigration brings college and university presidents and chancellors together on the immigration issues that impact higher education, our students, campuses, communities and nation. We work to support undocumented, international and refugee students, and advance forward-looking immigration policies and practices at the federal level, in our states, and across our college campuses. The Alliance is composed of 550+ college and university presidents and chancellors of public and private colleges and universities, enrolling over five million students in 42 states, D.C., and Puerto Rico.
TheDream.US is the nation’s largest college and career success program for undocumented immigrant students, having provided more than 11,000 college scholarships to Dreamers attending over 80 partner colleges in 21 states and Washington, DC. We believe everyone, regardless of where they were born, should have equitable access to a college education, a meaningful career, and opportunities to contribute to the communities they call home. For more information on TheDream.US, visit www.thedream.us.
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