JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — For the third year in a row, Missouri House members voted Wednesday to bar undocumented immigrants from public colleges and universities.
The legislation would require higher education institutions to verify to lawmakers that they have not knowingly enrolled undocumented immigrants before the institutions can receive state money.
House members gave first-round approval to the bill Wednesday on a voice vote, after defeating an amendment to exempt community colleges from the bill. A second vote is needed to send the bill to the Senate, where it has stalled the past two years.
This year, a similar provision already is pending in a Senate committee as part of broader bill targeting undocumented immigrants and the businesses that hire them.
As a result of a 1982 Supreme Court decision, states must provide K-12 public education to all students, whether they are in the U.S. legally or not. But federal law discourages states from providing undocumented immigrants a higher education.
Sponsoring Rep. Jerry Nolte said there is a logical reason for the distinction.
“It does not make economic sense to spend taxpayer money to train a work force that is not legal to work here,” said Nolte, R-Gladstone.
