Florida Bill Would Limit Number of Foreign Students at State Universities

Florida Bill Would Limit Number of Foreign Students at State Universities

These schools should have a majority of American students. How did this ever get so out of control?

The College Fix reports:

Florida bill would cap number of foreign students at public universities

A new Florida bill would limit the number of international students who attend state universities in keeping with broader Republican efforts to prioritize Americans first in taxpayer-funded higher education.

Filed Wednesday, House Bill 721 would require Florida’s public universities to limit the “number of enrolled students who are citizens of a foreign country & who are not permanent residents of United States” to no more than 10 percent of their student population, the Tallahassee Democrat reports.

The lead sponsor, Rep. Berny Jacques, R-Seminole, filed the “Foreign Students Enrolled in Public Postsecondary Educational Institutions” bill on Wednesday.

In a news release, Jacques said his legislation will “provide increased educational opportunities to American students.”

“Our colleges and universities should be educating Floridians and Americans first,” he stated. “Florida’s public institutions were designed to serve our public, not citizens of nations abroad.”

Jacques is a Haitian immigrant, according to the newspaper:

While the state currently has a 10% cap for non-Florida residents among all of the state’s higher ed institutions, Jacques’ bill would limit individual institutions and would be specific to foreign students.

Jacques’ bill currently does not have any carve outs for students with forms of documentation such as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), asylum status or trafficking victims (what’s known as “T nonimmigrant status”). It also does not include exceptions for athletics programs.

The new legislation follows a directive from Gov. Ron DeSantis to prioritize the hiring of American workers at the state’s higher education institutions.

In late October, DeSantis directed the Florida Board of Governors, which oversees the 12 state universities, to “crack down” on the hiring of foreign workers with H-1B visas, The College Fix reported at the time.

“Universities across the country are importing foreign workers on H-1B visas instead of hiring Americans who are qualified and available to do the job. We will not tolerate H-1B abuse in Florida institutions,” he wrote on X in October.

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