Va. Attorney General Says ‘Dreamers’ Can Qualify for In-State Tuition

Attorney General Mark R. Herring of Virginia on Tuesday announced that Virginia students who meet the state’s residency requirements and are lawfully in the United States under the terms of the Obama administration’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program can qualify for in-state tuition rates, The Washington Post reported. The program, opened in 2012, allows young people who were brought to the United States illegally as children to apply for two-year stays on deportation.

Mr. Herring made the announcement at Northern Virginia Community College’s Alexandria campus, and advised the state’s college leaders of his conclusion in a letter sent on Tuesday morning.

Gov. Terry McAuliffe, a Democrat, supported the move, while Republicans criticized it as an attempt to circumvent state law.

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• Source: Washingtonpost

The announcement came following a legislative session in which a Republican-dominated House of Delegates firmly rejected a “Dream Act,” which would have accomplished through statute what Herring did Tuesday with the stroke of a pen.

Republicans, who have been trying to cultivate stronger ties to minority groups nationally and in increasingly diverse Virginia, were cautious in reacting to the announcement.

They focused most of their criticism on Herring’s perceived end-run around state law, a line of attack that echoed their criticism of Herring’s decision not to defend the state’s constitutional ban on gay marriage.

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