Rick Perry may be a proud Aggie alumnus, but some students at the school are less than proud of the Republican presidential hopeful.
The Texas Aggie Conservatives, a student group at A&M, have recently started a petition against Rick Perry's DREAM Act. The Aggies want Perry to call a special session of the Texas legislature to repeal the legislation, which allows undocumented immigrants to pay in-state tuition.
“It is outrageous that Texas A&M, because of Gov. Perry, is awarding those who violated the law with in-state tuition and financial aid,” said the chairman of the Texas Aggie Conservatives, Steven Schroeder, in the Texas Tribune “The Texas government, especially in these troubling economic times, should not be subsidizing the higher education of adults who cannot legally work in the United States."
As of Wednesday, the petition has over 200 members.
The Houston Courier has more:
The Texas DREAM Act, which received bipartisan support when Texas Legislature passed it in 2001, allows the children of illegal immigrants to pay in-state tuition to attend college in Texas, so long as the student has a General Equivalency Diploma or has graduated from an accredited Texas high school.“I don’t think there’s any chance it would be repealed,” said Dr. Walter Wilkinson, chair of the Montgomery County GOP and an A&M alum. “When it passed, there were only four dissenting votes. Gov. Perry’s not going to call a special session during a presidential campaign.
“It sounds like a publicity stunt to me.”
A student group at the University of Texas even got in the fray. The University Leadership Initiative. which supports the DREAM Act condemned Aggie's petition.
"There is nothing conservative about their petition," Ainee Athar, a UT student and member of the group told the Texas Tribune. "This is a mean-spirited action that seeks to punish young people who are doing everything they can to succeed, despite countless obstacles."