The Delaware Senate Education Committee heard a wide range of emotions and opinions yesterday as the panel considered the Dream Act that would give in-state rates for college tuition and scholarships to undocumented immigrants.
The bill’s sponsor Senator Robert Marshall said he realized that this was not a popular measure noting he has gotten a lot of phone calls.
But the Wilmington Democrat said he hoped to get the bill approved by the full Senate despite the outcry of opposition.
Maria Matos executive director of the Latin American Community Center in Wilmington told the committee that she felt these students were Americans already noting that they grew up pledging allegiance to the flag in school.
The Wilmington News Journal reports that supporters argued that students who were brought to the US as children and graduated from a Delaware high schools deserve the same tuition as other state residents.
But opponents countered that giving those benefits to undocumented students was not fair to Americans citizens – some of whom – have to pay twice as much to attend one of Delaware’s three public institutions of higher learning.
