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SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- In seeking repeal of the state law allowing in-state tuition rates for undocumented immigrants, Rep. Glenn Donnelson contends it was enacted in the expectation that Congress was going to pass the Dream Act.
But the Dream Act, which would have amended federal law that limited states' ability to offer higher education benefits to the children of undocumented residents, never passed.
Donnelson, R-North Ogden, said higher education officials jumped the gun in allowing the tuition breaks.
He also challenges the idea of the state law.
"Why are we educating people who can't legally work in this country?" he asked. "It's a serious problem."
Assistant Utah Attorney General Bill Evans said there may be questions relating to Utah's statute, but the federal laws do not "render Utah's law invalid in our judgment."
A coalition called Utahns for the American Dream has organized to oppose Donnelson's HB7.
The group urges lawmakers to stand by the 2002 law and argues that the state benefits from a well-educated and productive population.
"It's critical that undocumented students who often come from extremely adverse financial backgrounds be able to continue paying in-state tuition," said Utah businessman Clark Ivory, a member of the coalition.
Children of undocumented workers don't qualify for financial aid. If the law is repealed, even undocumented students who have excelled academically would be blocked from a college education, he said.
In the 2004-05 school year, 169 undocumented students benefited from resident tuition rates, state data show. Most attended Salt Lake Community College, followed by Utah Valley State College and the University of Utah.
Rebecca Chavez-Houck, spokeswoman for Centro de Familia de Utah and a member of the coalition, said students taking advantage of the tuition breaks graduate at the top of their high school classes. "The state benefits so much more by them being educated," she said.
Mike Sizer of Utahns for Immigration Reform and Enforcement backs Donnelson's efforts and contends out-of-state students could sue over reimbursement of their more costly tuition.
Evans said legislators should make decisions about the law and its validity without being unduly influenced by speculations of huge judgments against the state.
"We don't believe those will ever come to fruition," he said.
Sizer and other supporters of HB7 say Utah higher education administrators were given wrong information by Utah's congressional delegation that the Dream Act would easily get through Congress.
Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, intended to sponsor the Dream Act in the Senate and Rep. Chris Cannon was to carry it in the House.
Hatch got bipartisan support for the measure from members of the Senate Judiciary Committee, but GOP leaders refused to schedule it for a floor vote. Cannon's version collected 149 co-sponsors, but failed to clear a subcommittee because of GOP divisions.
(Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
