Illegal immigrant students painted a very sympathetic picture for our state legislators.  Not only did illegal immigrant students testify in person before the Indiana Senate Education Committee, but their advocates gave everyone a booklet of their photos and stories based on the www.IndianaDreams.org website.

We need to tell the American side of the story.  Our parents and students are struggling to pay for college educations in this terrible economy where only 50% of college grads can hope to find work in their field of study. 

Time is of the essence!  SB 207 has advanced from the Senate to the House.

Here is how you can help:

Share the stories of your experiences and those of your friends and family who have struggled to pay for college in addition to daily living expenses.  Did you work and go to school?  Did it take you 6 years to graduate instead of 4?  Could you find a good job when you graduated?  Are your student loans paid off?

Please click here to share your stories with IFIRE so we can pass them on to state legislators.  After you contact us, we will get back to you with further details.

  This teenager from Indianapolis dropped out of school 2 years ago after his mother died.  He went to work to help support his brothers and sisters.  He has now gotten his GED and hopes to attend college one day.  He was on a 10-mile trek through the snow to apply for a minimum wage job when a local business man intervened.  Read the rest of the story here! 

Senate Bill 207 has been sent to the Indiana State House of Representatives for consideration.  Speaker Bosma has not assigned it to a committee yet. 

Thus far, most of your state legislators are doing a terrible job representing you!  Despite the fact that SB 207 violates federal law, legislators never obtained a legal opinion on this from a staff attorney.  Constitutional concerns have been raised as well.  They dropped the ball on the Impact Statement, too--not even attempting to estimate the number of illegals who would receive a financial advantage over legal citizens or the amount of lost tuition revenue for our state.  As they were debating the bill in the Senate, one Senator actually urged the Senate to pass the bill so they could find out the answers to the legal questions which had been raised!  Isn't that bassackwards?  He sounded like Nancy Pelosi when she said they should pass Obamacare in order to find out what's in it.  If you would like to watch the archived video of the Senate debate on February 26, click here and advance the time to 1:28:00.  With the exceptions of Senators Delph and Banks, you will be amazed at the quality of representation you have elected! 

The people most responsible for shepherding SB 207 through the House are:

Speaker Bosma (R)  Email:  H88@in.gov

Rep. Kubacki (R)   Email:  H22@in.gov

Rep. Candelaria-Reardon (D)   Email:  H12@in.gov

Toll Free Numbers for Indiana House:  1-800-382-9841 and  1-800-382-9842

Call and email them and your own state representative.  Click here to find out who represents you.         

• While we can sympathize with the plight of illegal immigrant students, we cannot fix their problem by passing SB 207 unless we want to violate 8 USC, Section 1623 of the federal immigration law which is printed above.

• The federal law says that illegal immigrants must not get an unfair ($20,000/yr.)tuition advantage over citizens. If illegals receive in-state tuition rates, then every citizen should receive the same.

• The Fiscal Impact Statement on SB 207 says that the impact is "unknown but probably minor."  However, the Indianapolis Star estimated there were 300 illegal alien students who would be impacted by an in-state tuition bill.  The Senate Education committee heard testimony that it could be as low as 200 or as high as several thousand. 

• Indiana University charges an annual tuition rate of roughly $10,000 for in-state students and $30,000 for out-of-state students.  That leaves $20,000 which won't be collected if the Indiana General Assembly chooses to help illegal aliens compete against Hoosier graduates. 

• 300 illegals x $20,000 = $6 million per year in lost revenues.

• The language in SB207 seems to say that any illegal immigrant who was enrolled in Kindergarten through 12th grade in Indiana as of July, 2011 can take advantage of in-state tuition rates.  If this is correct, the loss in revenues will amount to approximately $52 million over 13 years, and this is not just an inconsequential bill targeted to help only a few illegal immigrants.

• SB 207 violates existing federal law by giving illegal immigrants the benefit of lower, in-state tuition rates while denying the same benefit to citizen students from outside Indiana.

• IU charges over $30,000 in annual tuition/fees for out-of-state students while only charging in-state students $10,000. If this law passes, the federal law says that out-of-state students must be eligible for the same benefit offered to the illegals. If SB 207 passes every out-of-state student would be within the law to demand their $20,000 back because SB 207 discriminates against law-abiding citizens.

• There are a fixed number of classroom seats so this bill will foreclose the graduation potential of citizens and legal residents who are turned away.

• Taxpayers should not subsidize the education of illegal immigrants just because the Obama Administration gave some a two-year stay from deportation and a work permit. That was done without congressional authorization and is being challenged in court.

• Federal Immigration Law already prohibits in-state tuition rates for illegal aliens.  Read this article from Heritage Foundation or click this link to read the current Federal Law.