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Eli Kantor is a labor, employment and immigration law attorney. He has been practicing labor, employment and immigration law for more than 36 years. He has been featured in articles about labor, employment and immigration law in the L.A. Times, Business Week.com and Daily Variety. He is a regular columnist for the Daily Journal. Telephone (310)274-8216; eli@elikantorlaw.com. For more information, visit beverlyhillsimmigrationlaw.com and and beverlyhillsemploymentlaw.com

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Tuesday, March 18, 2014

Undocumented Students Denied Tuition Aid in New York Senate Vote

Wall Street Journal
By Mike Vilensky
March 17, 2014

ALBANY—A bill that would allow some undocumented immigrants to get state college financial aid was voted down by a narrow margin in the New York state Senate on Monday, a setback for its Democratic advocates.

The bill failed 30-29, with supporters falling two votes short of a necessary 32-vote majority in the 63-member chamber. Two Senate seats are vacant and two Republicans didn't show up for the vote. All Republicans present voted no, along with two Democrats, Ted O'Brien of Rochester and Simcha Felder of Brooklyn.

The Senate's rejection of the so-called Dream Act makes it unlikely that the bill will become law this session. The Democratic-controlled Assembly approved the act this month and included support for it in a resolution on spending measures. Gov. Andrew Cuomo has said he would sign the bill if passed by both houses.

Supporters held out hope that the governor and the Legislature would include the Dream Act in legislation authorizing the state budget, which must be passed by April 1.

"We will continue to press for its inclusion in the final budget," said Michael Whyland, a spokesman for Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, a Manhattan Democrat. "It is the right thing to do."

Mr. Cuomo said he would work to build support for the legislation but didn't mention passing it in the state budget in an email sent to reporters Monday night. The Senate, Mr. Cuomo said, "denied thousand of hardworking and high-achieving students equal access to higher education and the opportunity that comes with it.

Republicans argued the bill would give undocumented immigrants a way to bypass citizenship laws and would be a misuse of taxpayer money. "I simply cannot justify spending tens of millions of taxpayer dollars annually to pay for tuition for illegal immigrants when so many law-abiding families are struggling to meet the ever-increasing costs of higher education for their own children," Sen. Mark Grisanti, a Buffalo-area Republican, said.

The legislation would have extended the state's main financial aid tool, the Tuition Assistance Program, to undocumented immigrants at a cost of about $25 million a year, according to Assembly bill. The state already offers in-state tuition rates to the undocumented at State University of New York and City University of New York campuses.

The New Jersey Legislature passed its version of the Dream Act in 2013, and Republican Gov. Chris Christie signed it into law. The legislation was distinct from a stalled federal bill also called the Dream Act, which seeks to grant permanent residency to some children of undocumented immigrants who entered the military or attended college.

Monday's vote was a rare instance of Albany lawmakers considering a bill that didn't already have the support of a majority of members. Most bills without support from legislative leaders don't get a vote. Only two bills lost in floor votes in the Senate in 2011 and 2012, according to an analysis by the New York Public Interest Research Group, a nonprofit watchdog. A bill hasn't lost a floor vote in the Assembly since 2004.

In a spirited floor debate, Senate Democrats hailed the bill in their floor remarks as a potential watershed moment for immigration. Later its failure led to finger pointing over the Senate's leadership, which is divided between 30 Republicans and a breakaway faction of five Democrats led by Sen. Jeffrey D. Klein of the Bronx.


Senate Democrats said the vote's failure was an indictment of Mr. Klein's coalition with Republicans. Mr. Klein said: "I wish the outcome had been different."

For more information, go to:  www.beverlyhillsimmigrationlaw.com

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