by AZ Free Enterprise Club | Jun 4, 2025 | Opinion
By the Arizona Free Enterprise Club |
In November 2022, Arizona voters narrowly approved Prop. 308, making Arizona the 24th state in the nation giving taxpayer-subsidized, in-state tuition rates to illegals. Its narrow passage on the ballot was preceded by its razor-thin passage at the state legislature, slipping out because two former Republican legislators, who since lost their seats to primary challengers, rolled their caucus and voted in lock step with Democrats to force it for a vote.
After making the ballot, the measure was bankrolled by a small but well-financed cohort within the political class, business community, and immigration activist organizations funded by George Soros. Even a handful of Republican elected officials and candidates jumped on board, including a few city council members and current candidate for the Republican nomination for Arizona Governor, Karrin Taylor Robson.
It was in part billed by proponents as only applying to “Dreamers,” or recipients of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program established under the Obama administration. In reality, it allowed for anyone here illegally to get in-state tuition rates as long as they spent at least two years in an Arizona high school—signaling to the rest of the world that if you enter here illegally in time to go to an Arizona high school, American taxpayers will subsidize your tuition at our universities.
But they hid from the public one important fact. It unequivocally violates federal law…
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by Staff Reporter | May 1, 2025 | News
By Staff Reporter |
President Donald Trump issued an executive order on Monday ordering an end to in-state college tuition for aliens — the very policy endorsed by Republican gubernatorial candidate Karrin Taylor Robson.
Robson advocated for the passage of Proposition 308 in 2022: the proposition extending in-state tuition rates to illegal aliens protected from deportation by the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, usually referred to as “Dreamers.”
Robson was featured in a commercial by “Yes on 308” advocating for Proposition 308’s passage. Robson argued Dreamers provided a fiscal benefit to the state.
“It will improve Arizona’s economy by keeping skilled workers here in Arizona – kids we’ve already invested in for years, with zero tax increase,” said Robson.
Robson also signed onto a letter alongside over 50 Arizona Republican leaders advocating for aliens as critical members of the workforce.
Proposition 308 passed narrowly thanks to millions in dark out-of-state funds.
Trump’s executive order ordered an end to these college tuition benefits, claiming these and other similar policies qualified as unequal treatment of Americans. Trump directed Attorney General Pam Bondi and Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem to end state and local laws, regulations, policies, and practices which favor aliens over American citizens.
The Attorney General, in consultation with the Secretary of Homeland Security and appropriate agency heads, shall identify and take appropriate action to stop the enforcement of State and local laws, regulations, policies, and practices favoring aliens over any groups of American citizens that are unlawful, preempted by Federal law, or otherwise unenforceable, including State laws that provide in-State higher education tuition to aliens but not to out-of-State American citizens that may violate 8 U.S.C. 1623 or that favor aliens in criminal charges or sentencing.
Of note, Trump endorsed both Robson and her Republican primary opponent, Congressman Andy Biggs. Dual endorsements aren’t rare for the president, though Trump’s endorsement of Robson occurred prior to Biggs entering the race.
Arizona Republican leadership opposition to Robson’s campaign prompted Robson to unregister as a lobbyist earlier this year.
Shortly after Trump’s executive order, Biggs backed the move to end in-state tuition for Dreamers. The congressman also cited his support for a bill by Congressman Paul Gosar to prevent illegal aliens from receiving benefits restricted to American citizens.
“President Trump is right – US citizens shouldn’t pay more for college tuition than illegal aliens,” said Biggs. “I stand with President Trump on securing the border and ending policies that incentivize illegal immigration.”
Arizona’s legalization of in-state college tuition for illegal aliens resulted in the increased influence of dark money operations. These opaque cash flows have funneled into scholarship programs offered by the state’s universities.
Arizona isn’t the only state to grant this privilege to aliens. About half of the country and the District of Columbia also allows illegal aliens to pay in-state tuition for public colleges and universities including California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nebraska, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oklahoma, Oregon, Rhode Island, Texas, Utah, Virginia, and Washington.
AZ Free News is your #1 source for Arizona news and politics. You can send us news tips using this link.
by Elizabeth Troutman | May 9, 2024 | News
By Elizabeth Troutman |
Starting in November, recipients of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program in Arizona and nationwide will be able to obtain health care under the Affordable Care Act.
The Biden Administration finalized the rule Friday surrounding President Joe Biden’s efforts to urge Congress to establish a pathway to citizenship for “dreamers,” young people who have grown up as Americans but do not have citizenship.
“Dreamers are our loved ones, our nurses, teachers, and small business owners,” President Biden said in a statement. “And they deserve the promise of health care just like all of us.”
Biden announced plans in April to open Obamacare and Medicaid rolls, both subsidized by American taxpayers, to nearly 600,000 DACA illegal aliens.
Mario Montoya, a DACA recipient who has lived in the country for over two decades, told KTAR News 92.3 FM he wants to inform almost 21,000 dreamers in Arizona about the expansion of Obamacare coverage.
He said the final rule from the White House was a step forward but fell short of his expectations by not including access to Medicaid or funding under the CHIP and Science Act, as was initially proposed last year.
While Montoya advocated for the expansion of federal programs accessible to dreamers, he acknowledged that the fate of these programs is uncertain at this time.
“The DACA program is still being litigated at the courts and the Supreme Court is ultimately going to have the final decision to see if the program is going to stay,” Montoya said.
U.S. Rep. Raúl Grijalva, a Democrat who represents District 7 in southern Arizona, said in a statement that he thinks the move will expand access to affordable health insurance for thousands.
“Illness does not discriminate on the basis of documentation or legal status,” Grijalva said. “Access to timely health care is advantageous for those families and our communities as a whole.”
Senators J.D. Vance, R-Ohio, and Josh Hawley, R-Mo., as well as several House Republicans, lobbied Biden to drop the plan last year, but the administration moved forward anyway.
“By providing health insurance to DACA recipients, this policy further burdens programs intended to serve U.S. citizens and simultaneously encourages more aliens to enter our country illegally in the hopes of receiving similar protection and services,” the Republicans wrote. “Unfortunately, this approach appears to align with the open-borders agenda advanced by your colleague, Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, with hundreds of thousands of aliens apprehended trying to enter our country illegally every month.”
Elizabeth Troutman is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send her news tips using this link.
by Corinne Murdock | Nov 13, 2022 | News
By Corinne Murdock |
The left’s network of dark money appears to have successfully influenced voters in passing Propositions 209 and 308.
Prop 209, the Predatory Debt Collection Act, was passed by voters overwhelmingly, 72 to 28 percent. It’s a California-union backed effort to eradicate all debt collection in the state; the political action committee (PAC) driving support for the measure received the vast majority of its $12.7 million from the California union, Service Employees International Union United Healthcare Workers (SEIU-UHW). They’re rooted in the leftist infrastructure of dark money, since they don’t disclose the source of their millions in funding.
Marketing for Prop 209 promised a protection against medical debt collection. However, the measure goes much further by encompassing all other debts. The measure essentially makes all debt collection futile.
Prop 308, which would award in-state college tuition rates to Dreamers, was passed narrowly, 51 to 49 percent. According to the campaign finance data, the proposition was backed by at least $1.2 million in out-of-state dark money, such as NextGen, SEIU-UHW, United We Dream, and American Business Immigration Coalition Action.
Another $1 million came from Chicanos Por La Causa, a Phoenix-based organization, though their tax returns indicate that neither their organization or their political action arm raise anywhere near that amount in revenue respectively.
Those millions together make up the vast majority of the $2.6 million raised, $1.8 million spent to back the measure.
In-state tuition rates for Dreamers will add onto the increasing cost burden faced by Arizona’s public schools. As AZ Free News reported in September, illegal immigrant children cost Arizona public schools over $748 million in 2020.
The influence of leftist dark money will likely only grow in strength in the coming years, thanks to the success of another proposition.
Prop 211, the Voters’ Right to Know Act, was also passed by voters overwhelmingly, 72 to 27 percent. It proposes to remedy the influence of dark money in the state. However, it establishes neat carveouts ensuring leftist dark money isn’t affected: corporate media, Big Tech, labor unions, and “nonpartisan” PACs.
The main financier of the measure, David Tedesco, is the founder and CEO of the Phoenix-based venture capitalist firm, Outlier.
Tedesco donates heavily to both Democrats and Republicans according to state and FEC campaign finance records. He spent $211,600 backing Attorney General Mark Brnovich’s failed Senate campaign. He’s given at least $116,400 to Democrats for this election: $100,000 to the Arizona Democratic Party, over $5,000 to Democratic gubernatorial candidate Katie Hobbs, over $5,000 to Congressman Greg Stanton (D-AZ-09), and over $5,000 to failed Democratic candidate Aaron Lieberman.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
by Corinne Murdock | Jul 13, 2022 | News
By Corinne Murdock |
Since last summer, a Democratic political action committee (PAC), Revitalize Arizona, has invested over $120,200 into State Representative David Cook (R-Globe). Their latest investment was nearly $12,500 in communications advocacy, reported on Monday.
In total, Revitalize Arizona invested 250 percent more into Cook than in the next-highest candidate from 2021 and this year, all of whom were Democrats.
Altogether, Revitalize Arizona spent about $128,500 in favor of Democratic candidates from 2021 to present — about $20,800 more for eight candidates.
Over the past decade, Revitalize Arizona has spent well over $1 million opposing Republican state and local-level candidates. By comparison, the PAC spent approximately $10,000 opposing one Democratic candidate in 2020: State Representative Richard Andrade (D-Glendale).
Revitalize Arizona funds began flowing to Cook last June, after Cook was the only Republican to join Democrats in voting against legislation that would’ve prohibited cities and counties from requiring prevailing wages or union labor as a condition of receiving a bid or contract.
Revitalize Arizona, a Tempe-based PAC, is chaired by Israel Torres, a partner in the Torres Consulting and Law Group, which chairs the same address as the PAC. The PAC funneled $48,000 to the group in 2020, totaling over $122,100 over the past decade. It also paid Torres Multicultural Communications, previously known as Torres Marquez Communications, over $681,200 over the past decade, with the majority paid out to the firm in 2019: nearly $646,000.
All of their funds come from another PAC run by Torres: Residents for Accountability. That PAC receives its funds largely from unions. Among its funders from the past two years are the Arizona Pipe Trades 469 PAC, affiliated with a union, and Chicanos Por La Causa (CPLC) Action Fund PAC, affiliated with a social justice nonprofit. Over the past decade, a number of other union-affiliated PACs have funded Residents for Accountability.
The PAC has a history of investing in Democratic polling companies such as the D.C.-based Lake Research Partners, whose past clientele have included President Joe Biden, former President Bill Clinton, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Janet Napolitano, Sheila Jackson Lee, AFL-CIO, and the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Arizona.
They’ve also invested in Democratic polling company SKD Knickerbocker, from which Anita Dunn hailed — Biden’s senior advisor and former President Barack Obama’s communications director.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
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