RICHMOND, Va. (AP) _ Legislation is advancing in the Virginia Senate to bar undocumented immigrants from attending state colleges at in-state tuition rates. On an 8-7 party-line vote Thursday, the Republican-controlled Education and Health Committee sent to the Senate floor a measure that would override a ruling last year by Democratic Attorney General Mark Herring. The ruling says some illegal immigrants who were brought to the United States as children can qualify for in-state tuition. Thousands of such immigrants have been allowed to remain in the country under an Obama administration program known as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals. State Council of Higher Education for Virginia spokeswoman Kirsten Nelson told the committee 81 students have enrolled at Virginia four-year colleges at in-state rates in the nine months since Herring’s ruling was issued.
