Ted Poe: “America has the best public universities in the world. We have some of the best ones in Texas where I am from. Many…”

“America has the best public universities in the world. We have some of the best ones in Texas where I am from. Many Americans want to go to college. Parents want to send their kids to our public universities. Parents and students sometimes save for years to attend college. It is expensive, especially for the middle class. The rich can always pay; good for them. And the poor sometimes get grants and go to college, but it is the middle class that struggles, for a lifetime, sometimes, to send their kids to school. Some students decide to go a university in another State. They are penalized by that State and required to pay out-of-State tuition since they are from out of State. Citizens from other countries apply for Visas to come to the United States to go to public universities. If they are accepted, they pay out-of-State tuition since they are from out of State. These are citizens who come here legally and then go back to their native lands. But, Mr. Speaker, if a person is in the United States illegally, they can get admitted to State universities and pay in-State tuition. So if a person is illegally here from, let us say, France, they apply to a State university. If they are admitted, they pay in-State tuition. But they are from out of State, not to mention they should not even be here. They are violating American law by just their presence. So we continue to reward illegal behavior.…”