South Carolina Lt. Gov. Kevin Bryant is defending the state’s practice of charging DACA recipients out-of-state tuition—“often double the cost of in-state tuition”—despite the fact that these young immigrants call South Carolina home and pay taxes through their work authorizations issued by the federal government. Due to their legal status, DACA recipients aren’t eligible for public scholarships or work study programs, even though South Carolina’s undocumented families pay nearly $70 million in local and state taxes annually. The state seems fine with taking their tax dollars, but not allowing them access to things they pay into:
"The students were brought here by their parents, but the students were brought here illegally, which isn't quite fair to them," Bryant said. "But when we think about in-state tuition, which is subsidized by the South Carolina taxpayers, it's not quite fair to the taxpayer that they (DACA students) would receive in-state tuition, so I support the notion that out-of-state tuition is appropriate."
So if Bryant thinks young immigrants should pull themselves up by their own bootstraps, then he must support them getting jobs, right? That’s another no, because South Carolina also bars DACA recipients from applying for occupational licenses in order to work in fields like dentistry, “arguing that native-born South Carolinians should not have to compete with DACA students for licenses and jobs.” As a result, many are leaving for states that allow DACA recipients to enter these fields, like California and even Nebraska.
"It's really hurting the state," said researcher Will McCorkle. "Why are we allowing all these students to leave the state and not allowing them to do jobs that are going to help grow the state? From a self-centered perspective, it doesn't make a lot of sense."
One DACA recipient who has faced challenges in pursuing her goals is Erika Hernandez, a 4.3 GPA student who was able to get into a highly competitive cosmetology course when she was in high school. But after successfully completing the program, she and three other DACA recipients were ultimately denied licenses that would have allowed them to work in their field:
She rode a bus on school days from Greenville High, where she took the typical high school courses, to the Donaldson Center to study hair, nails, makeup, beautification and related health issues.
The students amassed far more than the 1,500 hours of training required to get a cosmetology license, Hernandez said.
Of the 20 students in her cosmetology class, four were DACA students, Hernandez said.
The four DACA students passed their exams, but all four were denied the licenses they needed to work in a salon, Hernandez said.
All of the native-born students in the class, however, received their cosmetology licenses, Hernandez said.
“I've been working hard,” said Erika. “We all have had really good grades, so we're not going to give up on our ultimate goals."
As immigrant rights group America’s Voice recently noted, DACA is currently under attack by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and other anti-immigrant hardliners, despite the program’s successes. In Paxton’s state alone, DACA recipients paid $51.6 million in tuition and fees, aside from the estimated $1.5 billion undocumented immigrants pay in state and local taxes. Make no mistake, DACA is good for America, and it’ll be up to all of us to help defend it.