United States HR 4815: Higher Education Dream Act of 2021

Bill Text

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117TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION H. R. 4815
To prohibit discrimination in higher education against certain noncitizen
students on the basis of immigration status, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JULY 29, 2021
Mr. GALLEGO (for himself, Ms. WILLIAMS of Georgia, Mrs. KIRKPATRICK, Mr.
GRIJALVA, Mr. ESPAILLAT, Ms. BARRAGA ́N, Mr. CUELLAR, Ms. GARCIA
of Texas, Mrs. NAPOLITANO, Mr. CA ́RDENAS, Mr. STANTON, Mr.
O’HALLERAN, Ms. OCASIO-CORTEZ, Mr. CARBAJAL, Ms. LEGER
FERNANDEZ, Mr. SOTO, and Mr. VARGAS) introduced the following bill;
which was referred to the Committee on Education and Labor, and in
addition to the Committee on the Judiciary, for a period to be subse-
quently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such
provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned
A BILL
To prohibit discrimination in higher education against certain
noncitizen students on the basis of immigration status,
and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Higher Education 4
Dream Act of 2021’’. 5
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SEC. 2. HIGHER EDUCATION FOR DREAMER STUDENTS. 1
Part B of title I of the Higher Education Act of 1965 2
(20 U.S.C. 1011 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end 3
the following: 4
‘‘SEC. 124. NONDISCRIMINATION AGAINST DREAMER STU-5
DENTS IN HIGHER EDUCATION. 6
‘‘(a) ELIGIBILITY.—An institution of higher edu-7
cation that receives Federal funds or financial assistance 8
under any Federal program shall not prohibit a Dreamer 9
student from applying for admission, nor shall it prohibit 10
a Dreamer student who is accepted to that institution 11
from enrolling. 12
‘‘(b) ADMISSIONS.—An institution of higher edu-13
cation that receives Federal funds or financial assistance 14
under any Federal program shall not discriminate against 15
or penalize in the admissions process a Dreamer student 16
who is otherwise qualified for admission to the institution, 17
on the basis of that individual’s immigration status, nor 18
shall such an institution differentiate in the admissions 19
process on the basis of residency between a United States 20
citizen applicant and a Dreamer student applying from the 21
same State. 22
‘‘(c) TUITION RATE.—An institution of higher edu-23
cation that receives Federal funds or financial assistance 24
under any Federal program shall not charge a greater rate 25
of tuition than the rate charged for residents of the State 26
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in which the institution is located to a Dreamer student 1
who, but for such individual’s immigration status, other-2
wise qualifies as a resident of the State in which the insti-3
tution is located. 4
‘‘(d) REMEDIES.—An institution of higher education 5
that violates subsection (a), (b), or (c) shall be subject to 6
the remedies described in sections 454 and 455 of the 7
General Education Provisions Act (8 U.S.C. 1234c, 8
1234d). 9
‘‘(e) CONFIDENTIALITY OF INFORMATION.— 10
‘‘(1) PROHIBITION.—No officer or employee of 11
the United States, of a State, or of an institution of 12
higher education that receives Federal funds or fi-13
nancial assistance under any Federal program to 14
which a Dreamer student applies for admission or 15
enrolls, may— 16
‘‘(A) use the information furnished by the 17
Dreamer student to arrest, detain, or initiate 18
removal proceedings against any person identi-19
fied in that information; 20
‘‘(B) make any publication whereby the in-21
formation furnished by any particular Dreamer 22
student can be identified; or 23
‘‘(C) permit anyone other than an officer 24
or employee of the Federal Government or the 25
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institution of higher education to which a 1
Dreamer student applies or enrolls, to examine 2
any information provided by a Dreamer student 3
relating to that individual’s immigration status 4
or qualifications to be a Dreamer student. 5
‘‘(2) PENALTY.—Whoever knowingly uses, pub-6
lishes, or permits information to be examined in vio-7
lation of this subsection shall be fined not more than 8
$50,000. 9
‘‘(f) DEFINITION OF DREAMER STUDENT.—In this 10
section, the term ‘Dreamer student’ means an individual 11
who— 12
‘‘(1) is not a national of the United States (as 13
defined in section 101(a)(21) of the Immigration 14
and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1101(21))); 15
‘‘(2) maintains a residence in the United States 16
(as defined in section 101(a)(33) of such Act (8 17
U.S.C. 1101(33))); 18
‘‘