Proposition 308: Measure giving Dreamers in-state tuition will pass

Rafael Carranza
Arizona Republic
Panelists from the American Business Immigration Coalition, Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego, Mesa Mayor John Giles, and other Proposition 308 advocates pose for a photo at Xico Inc in Phoenix on Oct. 14, 2022. If passed, Proposition 308 will allow students who are not legal citizens to qualify for in-state tuition as long as they have attended an Arizona high school, or home school equivalent, for at least two years and graduate.

Leer en español

Proposition 308, a ballot measure granting in-state tuition to undocumented students in Arizona, passed by a small margin after several days of a tight race.

Yes votes for Proposition 308 received 51% of the counted ballots, getting at least 61,000 more votes than the opposition. After starting off with a commanding lead among early vote results released on election night, the results narrowed significantly.

Election Day coverage: Arizona election results

The Associated Press called the election on Monday night. At an earlier news conference, community and business leaders on Monday touted their achievements boosting support for Proposition 308 among Arizona voters.

Rebecca Shi, the executive director for the American Business Immigration Coalition that helped lead the Yes on 308 campaign, said the bipartisan coalition of supporters invested more than $6 million to reach about 4 million voters in Arizona.

Shi said their last tracking poll showed that their efforts had paid off by securing the support of 81% of Democrats, 53% of independent voters and 27% of Republicans.

Republicans in particular had been a target as the election drew near, especially given that many Republican candidates had run on anti-immigrant platforms and numerous anti-immigrant ads filled the airwaves in Arizona.

Across the aisle: Republican voters courted to help pass in-state tuition measure for undocumented students

“In the face of all of this fear and division, there is a broad bipartisan consensus about immigration solutions," Shi said. "So now, it is time for Congress to act for Dreamers and farmworkers before the end of the year."

Supporters heralded a change in voter attitudes in approving this pro-immigrant legislation, nearly 16 years after Arizona voters had overwhelmingly decided to bar undocumented students known as Dreamers from receiving state aid.

Arizona, they said, was a bellwether for the country when it came to immigration issues, signaling that the United States was also ready to move in the path that voters set out with this proposition.

“Arizona continues to lead the country in historic shifts in the political tides, and so that really marks this moment of, at a federal level, the country is also ready to support our immigrant communities and being able to see legislation in favor of our immigrant communities,” said Alejandra Gomez, the executive director for Living United for Change Arizona, or LUCHA.

Gomez added that their campaign to knock on doors to have direct conversations with voters made a big difference this year. But she cautioned that this type of investment and organizing is needed year-round, not just in the electoral cycles.

Mayoral support: 'A core value': Mayors endorse Proposition 308, which would grant in-state tuition to 'Dreamers'

Bob Worsley, the co-chair for ABIC, said he believed the proposition would have passed by a larger margin, had it not been for the negative political ads that depicted migrants as invaders and having candidates such as Republican gubernatorial contender Kari Lake refer to them as rapists and criminals.

"When we first started looking at this, it looked like we had over 60% support," he said. "To show you how easy it is to move public opinion to a negative direction, we got moved a good 10 points down to this 51% point because of all the rhetoric you see in political campaigns."

Proposition 308 backers noted that many of the candidates who campaigned on anti-immigrant rhetoric had lost or were trailing in their races.

David Adame, the president and CEO of Chicanos Por La Causa, which invested heavily to pass the ballot measure, said it was important to keep the momentum so that the change in voter attitudes moves beyond Arizona.

“I truly believe and have faith in this country that people are more compassionate, this country was built on immigrants,” he said. “But we need to do our work to make sure that our story is told correctly and not that we’re murderers and rapists and things that were put out there on the campaigns today.”

Monica Villalobos, president & CEO of the Arizona Hispanic Chamber, speaks during a press conference in support of Proposition 308 at Xico Inc in Phoenix, AZ on Oct. 14, 2022.

The community groups and leaders added that the next step was the press the U.S. Congress and Arizona’s two Democratic senators, Kyrsten Sinema and newly reelected Mark Kelly, to take leading roles to adopt permanent protections for undocumented youth.

"Even as we celebrate today, we know that we're not done," said Carolina Rodriguez-Greer, the state director for Mi Familia Vota. "We want full federal protection for Dreamers, our families, so that we can fully live our lives in Arizona and this country that we all call home."

The changes to state law will go into effect as soon as the state certifies the election results, meaning undocumented students could begin paying in-state tuition in the spring semester.

They state that any college student, regardless of their legal status in the U.S., would qualify for in-state tuition if they graduated from an Arizona high school and lived in the state for two years prior.

These students currently must pay a rate of 150% of in-state tuition costs in order to attend public colleges and universities in Arizona, which is the equivalent of about $6,000 per year.

Proposition 308 also repeals portions of another statewide ballot measure passed in 2006 that barred Dreamers from receiving financial aid in the form of state-funded grants and scholarships.

Have any news tips or story ideas about immigration in the Southwest? Reach the reporter at rafael.carranza@arizonarepublic.com, or follow him on Twitter at @RafaelCarranza.

Support local journalism. Subscribe to azcentral.com today.