{"id":5991,"date":"2026-06-30T19:05:53","date_gmt":"2026-06-30T19:05:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/orlandorelocationreport.com\/?p=5991"},"modified":"2026-06-30T19:05:53","modified_gmt":"2026-06-30T19:05:53","slug":"florida-board-votes-to-ban-undocumented-students-from-state-colleges","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/orlandorelocationreport.com\/?p=5991","title":{"rendered":"Florida board votes to ban undocumented students from state colleges"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The State Board of Education voted Tuesday to ban undocumented students from enrolling in state colleges, a move that brings the state one step closer to becoming the largest in the nation to shut these immigrants out of publicly-financed higher education.<\/p>\n

Read more Central Florida Ponzi schemer Chris Delgado pleads guilty to fraud<\/a><\/p>\n

The board, which oversees the state\u2019s 28 state colleges, voted in a 6-1 decision without discussion in favor of a proposal to make those colleges, as well as Florida\u2019s adult education programs, off-limits to immigrants without proof of legal status.<\/p>\n

The sole dissenting vote on the board came from member Daniel Foganholi, a first-generation American born to Brazilian immigrant parents.<\/p>\n

Tuesday\u2019s decision follows a similar proposal by the Florida Board of Governors, which oversees the state\u2019s 12 universities, to bar undocumented students from enrolling at Florida State University, the University of Florida, the University of Central Florida and other state universities.<\/p>\n

If approved at that board\u2019s next board meeting in September, Florida would then join Alabama, Georgia and South Carolina in adopting \u201cprohibitive enrollment\u201d policies, in which students without legal status are barred from enrolling in some or all public higher education institutions.<\/p>\n

\u201cEducation is not meant to be a policing system for immigrants,\u201d said Alex Liberman, one of more than 50 people who\u00a0spoke out during public comment, including students, parents, teachers, local politicians and immigrant rights groups.<\/p>\n

The vast majority of speakers argued the rule would create bureaucratic barriers and discourage not only undocumented students from higher education, but fearful legal immigrants as well.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m calling to express my utmost disgust and concern,\u201d said Virginia Bolton, a student at Florida International University, who spoke via phone. \u201cThese items are not only cruel, vague and hypocritical of what the Department of Education stands for, for but what the United States Constitution does as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\u201cI came from Colombia when I was 8 years old and our public education system turned me from an undocumented student to a proud job-creating entrepreneur,\u201d said Luisa Santos, a school board member in Miami-Dade County. \u201cNone of that would have been possible if today\u2019s rules\u2026 existed.\u201d<\/p>\n

State Senator Carlos Guillermo Smith, D-Orlando, said the board lacks the authority to implement this rule and doing so would violate the Florida Education Equality Act, which prohibits discrimination based on national origin, among other regulations.<\/p>\n

\u201cFlorida law requires you to maintain an open-door admission policy in our state college system which these rules violate,\u201d Smith said. \u201cOur constitution also requires you to provide for the education of all children within our borders, which makes what you are doing unconstitutional.\u201d<\/p>\n

Angela Mann, a professor in Florida\u2019s state university system, said her \u201cDreamer\u2019 students, those brought into the country illegally as children, are \u201csome of the hardest-working students in my classroom.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more Asking Eric: My daughter\u2019s open relationship has completely blown up<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\u201cMy husband was a Dreamer who attended college using the GI bill after serving his country,\u201d Mann said. \u201cThey contribute to our society, and limiting them from accessing this education is not only going to limit their own futures but its also going to limit the future of Florida.\u201d<\/p>\n

But the state board said they did have the authority to implement the rule, citing Florida statutes that pave the way to allow it to create admission criteria.<\/p>\n

\u201cSpecifically, the rule is organized to introduce admission criteria in the context of admissions and responsibilities of the Florida College system expressed in section 1004.65, Florida statutes,\u201d said Kathy Hebda, Chancellor of the Division of Florida Colleges.<\/p>\n

There is no exact data on how many students in the state colleges and universities lack legal status.<\/p>\n

But in the 2024-25 academic year, there were at least 4,672 undocumented students enrolled in Florida\u2019s state colleges and likely about 2,000 more at state universities, based on a count of who was using out-of-state tuition waivers. Those waivers allowed undocumented students to pay in-state tuition, though they were not citizens.<\/p>\n

National organizations, however, have estimated that thousands more undocumented students attend Florida colleges and universities.<\/p>\n

\u201cBanning Dreamers from Florida colleges is both cruel and counterproductive to our state,\u201d said Gaby Pacheco, president of Dream.US, a group that supplies undocumented college students with scholarships, in a statement.<\/p>\n

The proposed rule changes come as the Republican administrations of both Gov. Ron DeSantis and President Donald Trump crack down on immigration. Last year the state repealed a law that allowed Dreamers to pay in-state tuition, making it far more expensive for them to take classes at public colleges and universities.<\/p>\n

That law was once championed by Florida Republicans, including former Lt. Gov. Jeannette Nu\u00f1ez, now president of FIU. \u201cLet\u2019s not hold these children responsible for actions that their parents took. Something they had no control over. Let\u2019s allow for opportunities for all of Florida\u2019s children,\u201d Nu\u00f1ez said in 2014, according to Scripps News.<\/p>\n

In 2025, Nu\u00f1ez had flipped and backed its repeal. \u201cOur country looks very different today than it did then,\u201d she said, according to Florida Politics. \u201cIt\u2019s time to repeal this law. It has served its purpose and run its course.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more Why most Black Americans say they never fly the American flag, according to a new poll<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The State Board of Education voted Tuesday to ban undocumented students from enrolling in state colleges, a move that brings the state one step closer to becoming the largest in the nation to shut these immigrants out of publicly-financed higher education.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5990,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5991","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-education","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\nFlorida board votes to ban undocumented students from state colleges - Orlando Relocation Report<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/orlandorelocationreport.com\/?p=5991\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Florida board votes to ban undocumented students from state colleges - 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