“Both Cruel and Counterproductive” – Gaby Pacheco of TheDream.US Reacts to Proposal to Repeal In-State Tuition for Florida Dreamers

For Immediate Release: February 24, 2023
Contact: Michael Earls at [email protected]

“Both Cruel and Counterproductive” – Gaby Pacheco of TheDream.US Reacts to Proposal to Repeal In-State Tuition for Florida Dreamers

 

Washington, DC – Yesterday, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis unveiled a series of immigration policy proposals that included a push to rescind the state’s in-state tuition waiver. That state law provides an opportunity for more Florida Dreamers to afford and attend college.

As Politico Florida reported, “Included in DeSantis’ proposal is the repeal of a 2014 law sponsored Lt. Gov. Jeanette Nunez when she was a member of the Florida House that offered out-of-state tuition vouchers to some eligible Dreamers, those brought to the United States illegally at a young age. It applied to Dreamers who attended a Florida high school for at least three years. The proposal received wide-ranging Republican support at the time.”

TheDream.US is the nation’s largest college access and success program for immigrant youth. In Florida, TheDream.US partners with eight Florida colleges and universities that are dedicated to the college and career successes of immigrant students. In its ten years of existence, TheDream.US has provided more than 1,150 scholarships to Florida Dreamers.

The following is a statement from Gaby Pacheco, Director of Advocacy, Communications, and Development of TheDream.US and a Miami resident:

“Stripping in-state tuition from Dreamers would be both cruel and counterproductive to Florida. Since 2014, Florida’s out-of-state tuition waiver has allowed long-time residents who have grown up in our backyard and graduated from Florida K-12 high schools to afford college and pursue a meaningful career. These Dreamers, on average, have called Florida their home since the age of 4. Thanks to in-state tuition and other opportunities for Dreamers, TheDream.US graduates and other Florida Dreamers are putting their college degrees to work as nurses, teachers, computer scientists, research scientists, entrepreneurs, and Fortune 500 employees. In the process, all are contributing to the social and economic prosperity of this state and country.

Making a college education harder to afford or achieve would not just harm these Florida young people, but our state as a whole. We urge Florida lawmakers to oppose this proposal and to instead stand up for Florida’s Dreamers and our state’s future competitiveness.”

About TheDream.US
TheDream.US is the nation’s largest college and career success program for undocumented immigrant students, having provided more than 8,750 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

Meet TheDream.US Graduates
TheDream.US has over 3,000 graduates who are driven, resilient, and helping move our shared country forward. They are nurses, teachers, authors, computer scientists, research scientists, business entrepreneurs, nurses, policy analysts, social justice workers – all contributing to the social and economic prosperity of this country. Their stories are ones of resilience and determination. Meet some of TheDream.US graduates and their stories here

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