It stands to reason that American colleges and universities should be for American students and, if room and so on permit, people who are at least in the country legally, on a student visa. Not for people who are in the country illegally, no matter how they came to be here; we should not reward lawbreakers by letting them attend our universities. But too many states do precisely this, even awarding illegal aliens with in-state tuition rates and financial aid.
The Florida Board of Governors approved an admissions policy change Thursday that bans illegal immigrants from enrolling in the state’s public universities, starting next year.
WESH reports the measure only applies to new applicants and “does not appear to affect undocumented students who are currently enrolled.”
“Beginning with the 2027-28 academic year, a person who is present in the United States unlawfully shall not be eligible for initial enrollment in any state university which, for the two most recent academic years, did not admit all academically qualified applicants, except for cases in which applicants were rejected for nonacademic reasons,” the regulation states.
There's probably some ex post facto consideration over grandfathering in illegal aliens who are already enrolled, but if they get found out and deported, presumably that would break that chain. And as of this new policy change, no more illegal aliens need to apply to Florida universities. Good. That's how it should be.
After the new ruling was announced, one student did speak up.
For Alexander Vallejos, an undocumented student at the University of Central Florida, the news was devastating.
"Heartbroken," Vallejos said. "I can't imagine it. It seems so unreal."
Vallejos was brought into the U.S. by his parents when he was 1 year old. He attended Palm Beach State College and is expected to graduate from UCF next spring.
Thursday's ruling doesn't affect him, but he worries about undocumented students who are younger and now won't be able to pursue higher education at Florida's public colleges or universities.
"I feel lucky, but I do feel really bad," he said.
First, let's call this spade a spade; he's not an "undocumented student." He didn't lose his student ID card or forget it back in his dorm room. He's an illegal alien. He's in the country illegally; he knows he's in the country illegally; he has apparently taken no steps to legalize his presence in our country, and he is in an American university taking up class space and faculty time that should rightly go to American kids, the kids whose parents' tax money in part funds these universities. He's lucky not to have been rounded up by Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE) and summarily repatriated.
Second, this kid doesn't seem to have a very shaky grasp on the notion of citizenship, and how any nation, anywhere, should take care of its citizens first - and they do that, in part, by enforcing immigration laws.
This is all a matter of incentives. The problem with illegal aliens, with illegal immigration, will never come completely to an end until the incentives for people to enter illegally are gone. In this case, being able to sneak into the United States and attend one of our colleges - and remember, some "sanctuary" jurisdictions allow illegal aliens to attend, paying in-house, resident tuition - is a powerful draw. Florida has now taken away that incentive. This is a move that all 50 states should make.
You can read the new Florida admissions policy here.