Republican Congressman Andy Biggs accused Arizona’s attorney general of “gaslighting” the public regarding the legality of a voter-approved state law granting lower tuition rates to “Dreamers.”
Proposition 308 grants in-state tuition to most high school graduates in Arizona, regardless of their immigration status. It requires Arizonans to attend a high school in state for at least two years — or an equivalent amount of home schooling — before graduating.
The immigrant advocacy group Aliento estimates close to 3,500 immigrants graduating high school in Arizona each year qualify under Prop. 308.
In a legal opinion issued last week, Democratic Attorney General Kris Mayes wrote that Prop. 308 satisfies exemptions and requirements carved out in federal laws the Trump administration has cited to challenge similar laws in other states.
“The attorney general here is gaslighting the Arizona public, and we’re not in compliance with the federal law,” Biggs argued during an appearance on Fox Business.
The Trump administration has cited two federal laws designed to prohibit immigrants from receiving public benefits.
Mayes argues one law expressly allows for states to offer such a benefit if it passes a law that “affirmatively provides for such eligibility,” as voters did when approving Prop. 308 three years ago.
Another federal law makes it illegal to offer in-state tuition to undocumented students based on their residency. Mayes wrote that Prop. 308 instead applies to students based on their physical presence in the state, as well as their attendance and graduation from an Arizona high school.
