Polis Defends In-State Tuition for Illegals: Feds 'Failed to Secure Our Border' and We Want Future Engineers

On Saturday’s broadcast of the Fox News Channel’s “Fox & Friends,” Colorado Gov. Jared Polis (D) defended the state giving in-state tuition to illegal immigrants by saying that “because the federal government has not gotten immigration in order, because they failed to secure our border” states have to do what they can and if you meet Colorado’s eligibility requirements and “if you have that potential to be a future engineer, to help develop our future, we want you here in Colorado.” Polis said, “The first state to do in-state tuition for undocumented folks was Texas, and they had it for 25 years. Theirs was struck down in court. Red states and blue states do this because, again, we have kids that grew up here, and because the federal government has not gotten immigration in order, because they failed to secure our border, because they failed to have — we have the DREAM Act that might cover some of them or those sorts of things, we do the best we can with people, with our Texans, with our Coloradans, and our New Yorkers or Oklahomans.” He continued, “So, in our state, of course, if you live here — and that means, in this case, you went to high school here, you were here three years, you are a resident of Colorado, right? And that’s whether you’re a green card holder, whether you’re from Texas or Mexico or whenever you’re from, you’re a Coloradan. States determine that. And your future’s in our state, you probably plan to live your career in our state. … But, again, if you aren’t documented, if you aren’t American, you don’t get any of the assistance packages, Pell, student loans, any of those things. You’re similarly not eligible. So, you’re not only having a hard time coming up with the $15,000, but, my goodness, if you have that potential to be a future engineer, to help develop our future, we want you here in Colorado.” Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett