Whoo!

The Tuition Equity bill that will allow children of undocumented immigrants to pay in-state tuition at Oregon universities just passed the Senate at noon today with a vote of 18-11. The Oregon University system believes about 75 undocumented students a year will take advantage of in-state tuition, making the system $943,467 from 2013 to 2015 if the House passes the bill and the governor signs it.

Knocking about $17,000 off the cost of tuition for only a couple dozen students a year might not sound like a big deal, but undocumented kids who live in Oregon say it will potentially change their lives. Students who rallied in favor of the DREAM Act in downtown Portland this winter discussed feeling like they hit a wall after high school—they can't legally get jobs and many cannot afford college.

The testimony in favor of the bill was pretty profound—multiple Senators preached about the bill in sort of weird religious terms, arguing that children shouldn't be held accountable for the "sins" of their parents (the sin here being illegally immigrating. Did I miss that part of the Bible?). But, anyway, real passion here, folks.

Senator Frank Morse, who opposed a similar bill when it came to the legislature several years ago but became a chief sponsor this time around, told the Senate that our founding fathers did not want children to be held accountable for the "crimes of their parents." "Who would stand with us today and say, 'Deport these children'?" he asked.

Senator Suzanne Bonamici echoed a similar point: "I'm not willing to deny these kids education because of a decision their parents made."

Critics of the bill note that while the kids may get the chance to go to school, they still cannot work legally in the United States. The president of group Oregonians for Immigration reform says that children of illegal immigrants should go back to their birth countries for college.