Bishop Anthony B. Taylor is asking Catholics in Arkansas to support the Act to Increase Access to Post-Secondary Education, commonly known as the DREAM Act, which is currently before the Arkansas General Assembly. If approved, the law would allow undocumented students who graduated from an Arkansas high school and have lived in the state for at least three years to receive in-state tuition at Arkansas universities and colleges.
The bill is loosely based on a proposed federal bill called the Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act. SB799 was introduced March 4 by Sen. Joyce Elliott of Little Rock and is currently before the Senate Committee on Education. A special hearing on the bill has been scheduled for March 23.
“It is legal for undocumented students to attend college in Arkansas, but in practical terms it is impossible for them to do so because it is prohibitively expensive: they are among the poorest people in our state and yet they must pay two to three times the tuition of other Arkansas students because they are labeled as foreign students,” the bishop wrote in a letter to priests and legislators.
Maricella Garcia, director of Catholic Charities Immigration Services in Little Rock, said she is gathering parishioners’ names of those support who the bill and will present them to the committee. Arkansans can show their support by adding their name to the diocese’s online petition.
The bishop’s complete letter, a link to the diocese’s online petition and links to the Senate bill are available at www.dolr.org.
UPDATE March 30, 2009: Although voted down in the Senate, SB 799 may be brought back up during the session. Support can still be given by contacting your state senator and by signing the online petition at www.dolr.org.
