Undocumented immigrants would be barred from admission to state colleges under a proposed rule by the Florida Department of Education.
The rule would also give schools the discretion to consider students’ past misconduct in making admission decisions.
Under the proposal each board of trustees in the Florida College System would be require to “ensure that all students admitted to the Florida College System institution are citizens of the United States or lawfully present in the United States.”
Students would have to “provide clear and convincing documentation that he or she is a citizen of the United States or lawfully present in the United States,” before admission.
The documentation must also be “must be credible, precise, and compelling.”
A hearing on the proposed rule is set for May 14 at Miami Dade College.
The rule would only apply to Florida’s 28 state colleges, not to its 12 state universities.
An email seeking comment from the department was not immediately returned Thursday.
Another part of the rule allows state colleges to “deny admission or enrollment to an applicant because of misconduct if determined to be in the best interest of the Florida College System institution.”
The move comes after some Republican lawmakers sought to limit the amount of non-American students at public higher education institutions, even if they are in the country legally.
A sweeping House bill (HB 1279) sponsored by Rep. Jennifer Kincart-Johnson, R-Lakeland, initially had a provision putting a 5 percent cap on undergraduate admissions for non-Florida residents when it passed the House. But the Senate removed from the final version sent to Gov. Ron DeSantis’ desk.
Another bill (SB 1052) sponsored by Sen. Erin Grall, R-Vero Beach, prohibited all higher education institutions from admitting any non-citizen who wasn’t legally present in the country. That bill, however, was never heard in committee this year.
And a bill (HB 721) by Rep. Berny Jacques, R-Seminole, would have required schools to limit the number of enrolled students who are citizens of foreign countries and who are not permanent U.S. residents to a specified percentage of the enrolled student population.
That bill received one hearing and never made it to the House floor.
Florida has already passed legislation that repealed in-state tuition rates for approximately 6,500 immigrant students who were brought to the country illegally when they were children by their parents.
Also, legislation DeSantis signed into law last month allowing the state to designate groups as “domestic terrorists,” has another provision calling for the expulsion of students at state universities who “promote” support for such groups.
If a student’s actions can be “reasonably interpreted” as an actual threat of violence; disrupt the learning environment; infringe upon the rights of others; or offer “material support for or the recruitment of members for such an organization,” they can be expelled under the new law.
–Ana Goñi-Lessan, News Service of Florida
JimboXYZ says
This is a non-issue. ince Obama, a FL DL has required a birth certificate to be provided to drive in FL. Chances are if one can attend a college, they also have a DL. The new FL DL will show citizenship status. They’ve had my birth certificate on record in their digital scans for 15+ years now. Requiring it again would be an absurd waste of time & money. And how many have had a FL DL as the only DL they’ve ever had ?
PaulT says
You got it Jimbo. Maybe you a starting to to realize that a great deal of what the DeSantis administration in Tallahassee does, and most of the stuff the Fl legislature proposes and votes ‘yea’ on, is absurdity, bigoted or just plain cruel..
Deborah Coffey says
It always puts a big smile on my face when I can agree with you, Jimbo.
Rick G says
Another example of the phrase…. cut off your nose to spite your face. Does anybody in Tallahassee have any working brain cells?
Al says
No illegal person should be allowed in any public schools from k-12 to university. They can pay to go to private schools but public funds should be for our children only.
Skibum says
You like circular reasoning much??? Just what public schools are you talking about? Oh yeah, you mean those same public schools that the republi-cons have eviscerated, taking all of the taxpayer dollars OUT of and giving the gift of our public funds to private educational institutions where more and more American families are sending their children to, thinking the private schools are much better at educating students than public schools. So now you admit THOSE conservative run private schools should be accepting students you refer to as “illegals”??? Is that what you’re saying, Al? Please educate us!
No, on second thought, before you open your mouth, you really should educate YOURSELF!!! Maybe then your asinine circular reasoning would be pre-emptively circumvented by critical thinking skills so you wouldn’t sound so foolish.
Deborah Coffey says
America FIRST means America ALONE means America LAST. With the people you vote into office, pretty soon EVERYONE will pay to go to private schools because there won’t be any public schools left!
Pierre Tristam says
America First is nothing less than a white-hooded version of “Deutschland über alles” (“Germany above all”), the Nietzschean-Nazified national anthem. The Germans had the good sense to drop those lines in their postwar redemption. Trump’s magazoids either don’t know their history or, more likely, wouldn’t mind repeating it for some. That’s what Hegeth’s putrid little stars-and-stripes pocket square means, as it hides behind its pretention of patriotic elegance: “Vereinigten Staaten über alles.”
Laurel says
So, the question are: Why the hell do Republicans care if the students are paying the schools for their education? Since state colleges are not free, why cut off that resource?
Broward County schools are in financial trouble now because of the voucher program draining the public schools’ funds. They are now considering closing schools. On top of that, the resources from paying legal and undocumented students are being purposely removed.
Time to wake up folks, something other than your best interest is at play here. Get past your prejudgments and see clearly how you are being manipulated. Ask the questions.
PaulT says
Maybe, Laurel, it’s because deep down it has nothing to do with legal or undocumented students.
Maybe it’s about the ‘natural born’ white culture wars which DeSantis has peddled to Florida’s reactionary right wing who still shiver at the thought of a tarbrush stained integrated society.
Maybe it’s about neo=Confederacy…
Skibum says
The next step, a la “The Handmaid’s Tale”, would be for the corrupt republi-cons to further restrict American educational institutions to white males. No minorities need apply. Ditch digging and crop picking doesn’t require brains according to their thought process. For that matter, neither does cooking and cleaning, so women too, stay barefoot and in the kitchen where they belong, cooking up vittles for their man.
Then the white nationalist movement nazis could sit back and exclaim that they didn’t need the KKK after all… just the right voters (republi-cons) approving the right educational system (for whites only) for those who belong to the right churches (white nationalist pseudo-Christianity). For them, problem solved. Amerika 1775.