#

It turns out there are far fewer illegal, or undocumented, students in the New Hampshire college system than Rep. Joe Sweeney (R-Salem) feared.

Sweeney’s response? Even one is too many.

Sweeney’s been talking for weeks about the fact that the University System of New Hampshire and the University of New Hampshire accept illegal immigrants as students. He argues they are potentially granting some of the illegals lower-cost, in-state tuition, which he says should go to legal residents.

The Salem Republican has been publicly calling on USNH to release the number of illegal immigrants enrolled in the state’s public college system.

On Wednesday, the university system released the number. According to a statement from the USNH, there are a total of three DACA-qualified students enrolled at either UNH, Keene State College, or Plymouth State University in this spring semester out of more than 21,000.

DACA stands for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, an immigration policy that gave people who were brought into the country illegally as children some legal protections and rights. It was instituted under President Barack Obama, halted in President Donald Trump’s first term, and brought back during President Joe Biden’s term. It is now subject to litigation and pending appeals.

Sweeney, the Deputy Majority Leader in the House, has been hammering schools over the fact that 2,400 New Hampshire kids have been turned away from UNH over the past four years. He questioned how many of those students were competing for slots at the schools with illegal immigrants.

USNH pointed out that more than one-third of students who apply at one USNH school also apply to at least one other in the system. 

“So, while a student may have been denied admission at one USNH school, they may have been admitted to another. In fact, USNH accepted 95.2 percent of New Hampshire resident students to at least one institution over the past four fall terms,” its statement reads. “The number of students denied admission to any institution over the past four fall terms was 1,083 individuals (4.8 percent) out of 22,557 applicants.”

And illegal immigration does not play a factor in students getting turned away, according to USNH Chancellor Catherine Provencher. New Hampshire’s higher education institutions have the capacity to add students and will accept all qualified New Hampshire applicants. If they can make the grade.

“Students are denied admission if they are not academically prepared,” Provencher said. “The last thing we want to do is have students paying tuition and possibly taking on debt if we do not think they will succeed academically. We do not admit any students from outside of New Hampshire at the expense of our Granite State students.”

Undocumented or illegal students do not qualify for financial aid, according to the statement. As for Sweeney’s claim that people in New Hampshire illegally could still be getting the lower in-state tuition rate, USNH insists they have safeguards in place.

“USNH students who pay in-state tuition rates must meet all New Hampshire residency requirements as set forth by the USNH Board of Trustees and sign an affidavit under penalty of perjury that they are legal residents of the United States,” the statement reads.

Sweeney and other advocates of increased immigration enforcement are less-than-impressed by the “sign an affidavit” standard.

And Sweeney ally Rep. Ross Berry (R-Weare) notes the immigration status information comes not from federal records, but from students self-reporting their immigration status on a form.

“That ‘three’ number is self-reported. Does anyone really believe that every illegal immigrant in the USNH system self-reported their actual status?” Berry asks.

Sweeney has been sending around a screenshot of the UNH application website that states, “DACA students are not eligible for financial aid, but they can be considered for in-state status for tuition if they meet USH’s residency requirements” to back up his claims.

When NHJournal checked the UNH website on Tuesday, that language had been removed.

Asked Wednesday about the website change, UNH representative Tania DeLuzuriaga dismissed it as an oversight.

“This was outdated information that was posted under a prior administration and was overlooked until it was pointed out,” DeLuzuriaga said

Sweeney says the unwillingness of the university system to address the illegal immigration issue could have unintended consequences.

“If USNH won’t take this seriously, then it’s time to consider 287(g) agreements between campus police and ICE to restore accountability.”

The University of New Hampshire isn’t saying how many of its enrolled students are in the country illegally, and the university appears to be hiding the fact that some of those students are getting subsidized tuition rates.

Illegal immigrants attending U.S. colleges is nothing new. The Higher Ed Immigration Portal estimates that more than 407,000 undocumented students, including DACA recipients, are enrolled in higher education.

But with the state’s budget tight and the University System of New Hampshire (USNH) complaining about modest cuts proposed by House Republicans, Rep. Joe Sweeney (R-Salem) wants to know what impact illegal immigration is having on the system. He’s also expressed concern that the system’s willingness to take undocumented migrants might mean legal Granite State residents are losing slots.

When he asked UNH for the data on the number of students who are “undocumented, or in the country illegally,” he didn’t get the answer, he told NHJournal.

“They told me they don’t keep those numbers,” Sweeney said.

Sweeney wants to know exactly how many UNH students are illegal immigrants, and how many of those undocumented students are getting in-state tuition rates, or any other form of financial aid. 

“You can be in this country illegally and you can get a subsidized education at UNH,” Sweeney said.

When NHJournal reached out to UNH to follow up on Sweeney’s request, it declined to respond. Sweeney provided NHJournal with a screenshot recently taken from UNH’s admissions page that states DACA students can, in fact, get in-state tuition. 

“DACA students are not eligible for financial aid, but they can be considered for in-state status for tuition if they meet USH’s residency requirements,” the website states in the screenshot. 

But when NHJournal checked Tuesday afternoon, the information about in-state tuition for DACA applicants was missing.

“DACA students are students that came to the U.S. as children and meet guidelines in which they can work/study in the United States. It is the student’s responsibility to contact the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) to request consideration of DACA. This determination is not made by the University of New Hampshire. DACA students are not eligible for financial aid,” the page stated on Tuesday afternoon.

For Sweeney, the concern is that undocumented students, or students who are in the country illegally, are taking spots at the state university that should be going to New Hampshire natives and getting the in-state rate. Tuition for 2024-2025 was $15,520 for New Hampshire residents and $36,170 for non-residents. 

Sweeney is concerned that UNH may have turned away a total of 2,400 New Hampshire applicants in the last four years, at the same time it was seeking DACA students to apply. Sweeney’s critics point out that the USNH system already accepts more than 85 percent of all New Hampshire residents who applied to UNH. The rates at Keene State and Plymouth State are even higher.

Eva Castillo, director of the New Hampshire Alliance for Immigrants and Refugees, points to another math problem in Sweeney’s argument: There simply aren’t enough undocumented people in New Hampshire to ruin any Granite Stater’s college dreams.

“There are 88,000 foreign-born people in New Hampshire, and less than one percent are undocumented,” Castillo said. “I don’t know where this idea has come from that we’re being flooded by undocumented people.”

Castillo says undocumented students at UNH do not qualify for traditional forms of student aid, and they have to pay out of pocket for their education. Rather than promoting attendance, they face a barrier to seeking college degrees or specialized job training. In many cases, these students have been in the country since they were children.

“These kids are kids who have been raised pledging allegiance to our flag,” Castillo said. “I don’t understand what is the purpose of (Sweeney’s) attitude … These are not the principles of the America I have known.”

Perhaps, but UNH’s unwillingness to share its data and its decision to delete DACA information from its website raises questions about the real numbers on campus.

Sweeney told NHJournal he isn’t against illegal immigrants attending universities, he just doesn’t want them to go to UNH or any New Hampshire college.

“They can pursue education in their own countries when we send them back,” Sweeney said.