East Central Reporter

Concern over illegal immigrants attending Illinois colleges and universities is overblown and not a priority when compared to other important issues the state faces, according to House District 110 State Rep. Reggie Phillips (R-Charleston).

"The reality is that, on a scale of one to 10, it’s a one for me," Phillips told the East Central Reporter in an email interview. "It’s like wanting to paint the walls of your house while the house is burning. If you have lived in Illinois for, let’s say 24 hours, you get a sense of the deep — I mean deep — fiscal and policy issues haunting the halls of Springfield."

Phillips' comments were in response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request by the East Central Reporter about the number of illegal immigrants attending Eastern Illinois University. In the fall of 2016, seven EIU students self-identified as so-called "undocumented," while from 2011 to the present, 28 students self-identified as undocumented and one self-identified undocumented student applied for the fall 2017 semester, the results of that FOIA request indicated.

Phillips said he knew there were a few illegal immigrant students at EIU but doesn’t concern himself about it.

"The few kids at EIU pay in-state tuition and get zero subsidies," Phillips said. "They fit in and are respectful as far as I know. Your comment that it’s a state-funded university leans toward the idea that we as taxpayers are subsidizing them. In fact we are not, at least not at EIU. I would be against any sort of subsidized education for undocumented students. The tuition that is being charged would in fact pay all of the costs associated with the education they are getting at the time. It’s the fault of the past and the current system that the costs may or may not be covered currently by the tuition being charged."

As of 2014, the latest date for which data is available, Illinois ranked among the top six states in the nation that account for 59 percent of the 11.1 million unauthorized immigrants in the U.S., according to figures from the Pew Research Center. In 2014, there were approximately 450,000 unauthorized immigrants in Illinois, a 10 percent dropped from the approximately 500,000 in 2009, according to the Pew Research Center.

Allowing illegal immigrant children to attend elementary through high school, the usual prelude to higher education, has been the law of the land since 1982 under the landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision in Plyler v. Doe.

Since that decision, illegal immigrants have been graduating from high school in the U.S. and many of those teenagers want even higher education. The Illinois Association for College Admission Counseling estimates there are approximately 1.5 million illegal immigrant students under 18 in the United States, 65,000 of whom graduate from high school each year.

Nationwide, there are 7,000 to 13,000 illegal immigrant students enrolled in college, according to an Educators for Fair Consideration fact sheet. Illinois is one of 18 states in the U.S. that allow illegal immigrant students to pay in-state tuition and attend its colleges and universities.

Coming up with that money is a challenge for illegal immigrant students in Illinois. Currently, illegal immigrants in the state are not eligible for public university scholarships, grants, waivers and other forms of financial assistance. Illegal immigrants also cannot obtain federal student aid or taxpayer-funded Monetary Award Program (MAP) grants, a need-based grant that assists low-income Illinois students pay for tuition in the state.

More recent legislative action in Springfield has provided no help to the state's illegal immigrant students. On Aug. 5, 2016, Gov. Bruce Rauner vetoed SB 2204, legislation that had been backed by the University of Illinois that would have illegal immigrant students serve as student trustees. In April 2016, the Student Access Bill or SB 2196, a bill that would improve college access and affordability for illegal immigrants, passed the state Senate but now is stalled in the House.

Springfield needs to concentrate or more important issues, Phillips said.

"I for one do not wish to piece meal the next budget or the fiscal changes needed in Illinois to make us competitive again," he said. "It’s sort of like framing up a house and not putting a roof on. It won’t work for the long haul. Eventually what you build will fall and you have to start all over again. We have a deeper issue with the political make up of Springfield. When a few have the power and the rest are dictated to by the few, we will always have an imbalance of the power and the outcome of the legislation that emerges. I do not intend to sit by this next term and allow my voice not to be heard. This 100th assembly will need an enema."