Florida Dreamers aren't giving up just yet
20-year old Cailie (she did not give her last name) at the Capitol in Tallahassee on April 1, 2025. (Photo by Mitch Perry/Florida Phoenix)
In a sweeping immigration bill designed to help President Donald Trump enact his mass deportations of unauthorized immigrants, the Florida Legislature earlier this year repealed a 2014 law allowing individuals brought to the U.S. as children without documentation, known as 'Dreamers,' to pay in-state tuition rates at Florida colleges and universities.
That abrupt change will affect approximately 6,500 undergraduates, according to the Florida Policy Institute.
When the measure went before the Florida Senate in February, South Florida Democrat Jason Pizzo offered an amendment to grandfather in any dreamer enrolled in a state college or university so they could continue pay that in-state tuition for an additional four years.
It didn't pass.
Advocates aren't giving up, though. This week, the group TheDream.US trekked to the Capitol to resume the fight. Specifically, they hope to revive the idea of allowing students now enrolled to continue paying in-state rates until they graduate.
'Right now, they're working on the budget, and we know that the budget needs to pass, right?' said TheDream.US president and CEO Gaby Pacheco.
'And so it could be a potential vehicle for us to get a grandfathered-in clause. The hope is that the House as they're working through this perhaps put in an amendment. We're not legislators, so we don't necessarily know the ins and outs. We're just hoping that they know that this is important for the state of Florida, for their constituents, for these students and our college systems.'
Pacheco made regular visits to the Capitol in 2023 to defend against the threatened cutoff of in-state tuition for dreamers. Gov. Ron DeSantis announced before that legislative session a slate of proposals cracking down on illegal immigration.
Yet, somehow, the law survived that year. It wasn't the first time that some Republicans in the Legislature had attempted to repeal the measure. But after last year's election, in which illegal immigration was a central issue, DeSantis made it clear to state lawmakers at the beginning of this year that he wanted the law struck down.
Among those joining Pacheco in the Capitol this week was a 20-year-old student from the University of Central Florida who wanted to be identified only by her first name of Callie, out of fear she could be targeted because of her immigration status.
She's a junior majoring in advertising and public relations who has accumulated 80 credits toward her degree and says that will be up to 100 by the end of the spring semester — not enough yet to graduate.
But as of July 1, when the law takes effect, she'll be forced to pay full tuition. 'That means I can no longer afford my public education and will have to give up everything that I've fought for,' she said.
In addition to her studies, Cailie works between 20 and 36 hours a week at Publix and spends her free time volunteering to help students prepare college scholarship applications. Her tuition is roughly $2,800 a semester, covered through a scholarship from TheDream.US. It will more than double after the law takes effect — an amount she says she can't bear.
Cailie, 20, migrated to the United States from Haiti almost seven years ago. Her parents aren't supporting her, she said, as she was forced to leave home at 16. Her rough upbringing compelled her to try to make a better life for herself but, without the benefit of in-state tuition, 'it's impossible.'
She spent part of Tuesday meeting with lawmakers to explain her plight, although she knows it's an uphill battle.
'It's hard to get people to change their mind, so all we're asking for are the current students to be grandfathered in and protected for now,' she said. 'Because most of us only have a few more credits to go, and it's so unfair that we had to fight so hard to get here and just knowing that all of a sudden it meant nothing? That's hard.'
Cailie's ambition is to start her own business helping other students from low-income families get educations like she's been able to achieve — for now, anyway.
'I want to be a role model to show them that I come from an undeveloped country, that I didn't have the same opportunities as everybody else, and I made it, so it's possible. The U.S. is a country of opportunists, but now I'm wondering if that's even true anymore.'
Pacheco acknowledges her group has limited leverage with the Legislature, but believes it's worth the effort.
'At the end of the day, we're practically begging,' she said. 'We're saying, 'Please do not do this to these students. Please do not do this to 6,000 young people who have worked so hard to get so far, and that are so close to be able to get those college degrees.''
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