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Loudoun Lawmakers: Immigrants With Temporary Status Shouldn’t Get In-State Tuition Jonathan Hunley
D
jhunley@leesburgtoday.com
el. David I. Ramadan and state Sen. Richard H. Black have introduced legislation that would bar immigrant students with temporary resident status from receiving in-state college tuition rates. The moves by Ramadan (R-87), of South Riding, and Black (R-13), of Leesburg, potentially set up a showdown of sorts with another elected official with Loudoun County roots: Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring. Herring in April sent a letter to the State Council of Higher Education in Virginia, the presidents of Virginia’s colleges and universities and the chancellor of the Virginia Community College System advising that state students lawfully present in the country under the federal Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program qualify for in-state tuition, provided they meet domicile requirements. DACA provides temporary government protection from deportation for immigrants brought to the U.S. before they turned 16. “DACA students are lawfully present under approval that is renewable, permitting them to remain in the United States and to form a subjective intent to remain in Virginia indefinitely,” Herring wrote. But Ramadan argues that immigrants granted resident status under DACA or given temporary protected status by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services shouldn’t be classified as if they will remain in Virginia perma-
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Greenway. “That’s my biggest priority for this year,” Ramadan said last week. The delegate already has filed a complaint about Greenway tolls with the State Corporation Commission, and he said he has two goals: to limit or stop the annual increase in the levy and to force distance pricing on the highway. The latter would mean tolls wouldn’t be based on a flat fee, as they are now, but rather on how far a motorist drove on the Greenway.
Murphy
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County. Murphy will face an uphill slog in the House of Delegates, where Republicans hold about a 2-to-1 majority over Democrats. The Democrats did have some other good news Tuesday, as Joseph Preston won the 63rd District special election by handily beating independent candidate W.H. “Mouse” Jones Jr. Murphy and Parisot had merely two months to make their case to local voters. They did not debate each other in public forums, but answered questionnaires posed by numerous organizations, including Leesburg Today parent Northern Virginia Media Services. Wintry weather likely played a role in the election’s low turnout. Forecasters had expected cold temperatures and some snow Tuesday, but not as much as the 3 to 4 inches that fell that day. Roads were treacherous, especially during the normally heavy voting period before 9 a.m. Both the weather and voters’ views showed
nently. Their immigration status is just as it seems, he said: temporary. So “absent congressional intent to the contrary,” this group of immigrants shouldn’t be allowed to pay the less expensive rate for higher education, his bill reads. Black’s legislation is similar, although it also would prevent immigrants protected by the Deferred Action for Parental Accountability program, which shields parents of U.S. citizens or lawful permanent residents from deportation, from receiving in-state tuition. Ramadan noted Friday that DACA was begun by President Barack Obama’s administration and expanded in November by an executive order. He criticized that method of implementing regulations as well as Herring’s action, which he called a “directive” that the state’s top lawyer shouldn’t have issued. The lawmaker said that Herring, a Democrat, was a “centrist” when serving in the state Senate but has gone “far left” since being elected to statewide office. Herring spokesman Michael Kelly, however, said that the attorney general could find no state or federal law that prohibited immigrants granted DACA status from establishing domicile. And, Kelly noted, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services added a line to its DACA website a few weeks after Herring’s action that seems to confirm the Virginia decision. It says: “Individuals granted deferred action are not precluded by federal law from establishing domicile in the U.S.”
“State law says those with temporary or student visas are ineligible, but students approved for deferred action do not have a student or temporary visa,” Kelly wrote in an email. “If these young immigrants can meet the criteria in the law to establish domicile, they are eligible for in-state tuition. This is the exact same conclusion then-Attorney General [Bob] McDonnell reached regarding immigrants with temporary protected status.” Ramadan said he was forced to act to protect legal Virginia residents and those who have immigrated through traditional federal government means. That’s what he did when he came to America in 1989 from Lebanon, he said. And of those who would criticize his stance, considering he’s an immigrant himself? Ramadan said one reason foreign residents want to live in the U.S. is because of the rule of law. He said he may feel sympathy for immigrants brought here when they were children. However, he said, “That does not mean I will forgo the law.” Ramadan’s bill also could run afoul of another delegate who represents part of Loudoun. That’s Thomas Davis Rust (R-86), of
Herndon. He was quoted in a press release from Herring’s office in April about the DACA issue. “The actions by the Attorney General will allow DACA students to pursue their dreams,” Rust said in that release. “Most of these young people have been raised entirely in Virginia and attend Virginia schools. They deserve the opportunity to participate as Virginians in our world-class institutions of public higher education. I am pleased that the legislation I introduced during the previous two sessions brought appropriate attention to this matter.” Kelly noted Rust’s involvement with the matter, as well. “I should also point out that this issue has received strong bipartisan support as recently as last session when 12 Republicans in [the] House Education [Committee] supported a Republican-sponsored bill from Del. Tom Rust to explicitly grant in-state tuition to DACA students,” he wrote in his email. Two of those Republicans supporting Rust’s legislation also represent parts of Loudoun: Del. Tag Greason (32), of Ashburn, and Del. James M. LeMunyon (67), of Chantilly. n
Wexton said she’s exploring whether Virginia could buy the toll road back from its owner, Toll Road Investors Partnership II. Annual increases in tolls place a large financial burden on her constituents, she said, while profits flow to a company in a foreign country. “I don’t think that was what was intended,” the senator said, referring to Australia’s Macquarie Atlas Roads, which owns a 50 percent interest in the Greenway. Wexton and Ramadan also seek to create a supplement to the state police’s sex offender registry. That would be a list of people who committed violent sexual offenses in Virginia before the state
required such offenders to register. It would not require those listed to register their whereabouts, Ramadan said, but would just centralize conviction records that are publicly available from localities anyway. “We’re not adding punishment” to those who already have paid their debt to society, the delegate said. Ramadan and state Sen. Richard H. Black (R-13), of Leesburg, also have introduced legislation that would restrict immigrant students with temporary resident status from receiving in-state college tuition rates. (See story, opposite) And Minchew and Del. Tag Greason (R-32),
of Ashburn, are shepherding bills to create specialized license plates. Minchew, an Eagle Scout and former scoutmaster, said he would submit legislation for a Boy Scout tag. And Greason already has filed a bill that would make available for purchase plates that say “Cure Childhood Cancer” and bear the gold ribbon symbolizing awareness of the issue. He was inspired by 13-year-old Mathias Giordano of Leesburg, who died last month. Mathias, who was diagnosed with bone cancer in 2012, became an inspirational celebrity of sorts as he battled the disease. n
sharp edges that day. A campaign worker slipped in the snow and hurt her leg at Langley High School, Murphy’s voting location. At Great Falls Library, one of Parisot’s campaign stops that day, a voter said he approved of the Republican’s policy positions, but detested fielding a barrage of unsolicited calls from his campaign. Reached at polling places on Election Day, both candidates expressed confidence in the preparatory work of their campaigns. “The weather is the one thing I can’t control in this campaign, so we’re really not letting it slow us down at all,” Parisot said. “All of our volunteers showed up, all of our polls are manned, and it just makes me feel more and more confident about our strategy leading up to today.” Parisot called his campaign a “brilliantly planned and executed grassroots effort.” Voters seemed especially keen about growing and diversifying Virginia’s economy, solving Northern Virginia’s transportation problems and investing in the public-school system, he
said.
them, just to remind them to get out and vote today. Let’s hope it pays off.” Murphy said her experience and local connections made her the better candidate. “I’ve lived here for a long time, I’ve been a part of this community, I’ve been very involved in the issues and even the programs that we have here in this area,” she said. “I certainly know politics. I’ve been in this arena for a long, long time, so I know the issues inside and out. It’s not something new to me. I won’t have to learn it.” Del. Scott Surovell (D-44th), the Democratic caucus chairman, issued a statement lauding Murphy’s election win. “I am proud to offer my sincere congratulations to Kathleen and her family on this important victory,” his statement read. “Anyone who knows Kathleen will tell you how passionate she is about serving the people of her district—and I know she will bring that same energy and determination to get things done in Richmond.” n
“If these young immigrants can meet the criteria in the law to establish domicile, they are eligible for in-state tuition.” Michael Kelly Spokesman for Attorney General Mark Herring
Murphy’s approach was to raise taxes, “kind of choking out the economy, rather than doing things to increase the tax base, get businesses flourishing and get as much as we possibly can of that growth moving into the private sector, versus growing and expanding the government,” Parisot said. “I think that when you highly engage voters and you show that you care and invest your time, energy and effort in getting out and talking with them, when it comes to elections, they come out and they show that loyalty and support right back,” he added. Voting before 8 a.m. at Langley High, Murphy said the snowfall would force her team to work extra hard. “I think we’re going to have to be on the phone a lot and give rides to people, so we make sure voters get here,” she said. “I pray for miracles. This is an off-year election, so I just don’t think there’s any way to read what people will do today. We called our universe, probably more than they would have liked us to call