In her first-ever State of the State address this Monday, Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs vowed to use taxpayer money to create a program to provide scholarships to illegal aliens.
“In line with the will of Arizona’s voters in passing Proposition 308 this past November, my budget allocates $40 million to create the Promise for DREAMers Scholarship Program to cover all students, regardless of immigration status,” she said during the address.
According to Aliento, an Arizona-based advocacy group for illegal aliens, the governor’s plans could wind up benefitting up to 2,000 illegal aliens per year.
“This is a great first step for Gov. Hobbs’ support for all students, including our Dreamers. We’re excited for how this could impact the 2,000 Dreamers who graduate from high schools every year,” Aliento founder and CEO Reyna Montoya said in a statement.
“This could potentially put Arizona on the right track to make education more accessible and equitable. We will continue to work for those students and look forward to Hobbs’ following through with this proposal,” she added.
BREAKING: @GovernorHobbs commits $40 million to support Arizona Dreamers in higher education!#alientoaz #dreamers #Arizona #education #college #prop308 pic.twitter.com/MFEabSF2Mj
— Aliento (@AlientoAZ) January 9, 2023
Here’s the catch, though: Arizona voters have mainly themselves to blame for this.
During the 2022 midterm elections, they voted for Proposition 308, “which allows undocumented students both access to in-state tuition rates and state-funded financial aid,” according to CNN.
The vote came as a shocker given Arizona’s history.
“In 2006, Arizona voters passed Proposition 300, which did the opposite – prohibiting undocumented students from both. Until this vote, Arizona was one of three states, including Georgia and Indiana, to specifically block undocumented students’ access to cheaper in-state tuition – making it one of the most draconian policies in the country,” CNN noted.
Regardless, Arizona voters are now getting exactly what they voted for – “transformative change for immigrant youth all over the state of Arizona,” as Aliento has put it.
Not that they’re happy about this. Indeed, the backlash to Hobbs’ announcement has been severe.
Look:
Yay for Arizona and U.S citizens who cant afford to go to school or send their own children to college
— Joel Bushman (@BushmanJoel) January 12, 2023
My kids and I paid for there College degrees! This is an insult to all hardworking Americans paying for there Own Education! Throw these Bums Out of Office!
— Roger That! (@RogerWPetersen1) January 12, 2023
So a kid in the U.S. from a working-class family will either not be able to attend or will graduate with the equivalent of a mortgage in debt while a kid here illegally graduates owing nothing?
— Louise P (@AnneDaughter) January 12, 2023
City bulk trash pickup is weeks behind. Trash is piling up all over sidewalks in Phoenix. Democrats in charge can’t even run basic public works, squandering our tax money, yet she wants to do this? Get your priorities straight!
— Chris (@Chris_Carson82) January 12, 2023
So, democrats want us to pay for student loans we didn’t agree to or benefit from and pay to for illegals to get higher education too? Just think we will be the minority in our own country and lose out on top paying jobs while paying for illegals to get those top paying jobs.
— Linda Zeb (@zeb_linda) January 11, 2023
Note also that Republican members of the Arizona state Senate also bear some blame because, despite holding majority control of the body, they referred Proposition 308 to the ballot.
“Prop 308 was referred to the Nov. 8 ballot by the Arizona State Legislature,” according to Phoenix radio station KTAR.
Granted, some Republicans did vote against it, including state Sen. Michelle Ugenti-Rita.
“This is a population that is here obviously illegally. To grant them a consideration, special treatment, a discount flies in the face of our rule of law and order,” she’d reportedly said prior to the vote.
The only potential good news is that the program will at least benefit some people — just not U.S. citizens. Take, for instance, Maria Dominguez, a so-called “Dreamer.”
“I will graduate from high school this school year, and as an undocumented student, I have struggled more than my peers due to the lack of immigration status. One of the more difficult things has been living with the idea that I may not be able to attend college due to the lack of support,” she said to Arizona PBS.
“But today, with the passing of Proposition 308, my life will change, I will have the opportunity to reach my dream of becoming a neurologist, regardless of my immigration status,” she added.
What Prop. 308 means for Arizona students:https://t.co/VuvDrOv2eO#alientoaz #prop308 #arizona #dreamers
— Aliento (@AlientoAZ) January 6, 2023
Good for her?
Dovetailing back to Hobbs’ State of the State address, it was boycotted by some Republicans.
“Members of the far-right Arizona Freedom Caucus walked out, unwilling even to listen to what a new governor, at the start of a new legislative session, had to say,” The Arizona Republic, a left-wing site, complained.
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