Following a bipartisan vote in the state’s lower chamber on Monday, Arizona voters will vote in 2022 on whether or not to again allow young undocumented immigrants, including Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients, to access the same in-state tuition rates as other students in the state. Four House Republicans joined 29 Democrats to send the measure to voters, and would repeal the ban stemming from an anti-immigrant 2006 law, the Associated Press (AP) reports. 

While voters must still decide on the measure, its bipartisan progress through both the Arizona House and Senate represents a victory for young advocates who have been spearheading the changes. “This is a historic day in Arizona,” tweeted DACA recipient and Aliento founder Reyna Montoya. “I’m in tears of joy and have a deep sense of gratitude for all the house of representatives who voted yes today on #SCR1044. Thank you for believing in our dreamers, improving our state’s education & economy.” 

DACA recipients in Arizona had for some time been eligible for the same in-state tuition rates as their peers at community colleges and state universities, until a 2018 decision from the Arizona Supreme Court, affecting as many as 2,000 students. “Currently, Arizona and five other states bar in-state college tuition for people who can’t show they are legally residing in the in the county, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures,” the AP reported. 

Jose Patiño, DACA recipient and director of education and external affairs at Aliento, was in high school when voters passed the 2006 law that would eventually be cited in the Arizona Supreme Court’s decision revoking in-state tuition for undocumented students. While some states have passed measures opening up state financial aid to undocumented students, they remain barred from federal financial aid.

“It’s this barrier that you can’t pay for tuition, you can’t apply for scholarships … and it becomes so difficult that a lot of times it affects your inner worth, your inner value,” Patiño told AZ Mirror this week. “And it affected me. I always thought I wasn’t good enough. And I carried that. Like I’m not good enough for this, maybe I’m not good enough as a person. And I always doubt myself.”

But Monday’s victory at the Arizona House is a testament to the power, drive, and organizing of young immigrants like Patino and Montoya, and follows the Latino and Indigenous-led U.S. Senate victories this past November. In a tweet, Arizona Rep. Aaron Lieberman called Montoya “a tireless advocate & inspiration for so many. Today’s vote on #SCR1044 happened in no small part because of her tireless work & that of @AlientoAZ, the organization she founded.”

Brophy College Preparatory senior Benitez Sanchez told AZ Mirror that while his dream college accepted him, he can’t afford to attend it. But he wants voters to approve the measure so that his younger sister, a junior at Xavier College Preparatory, doesn’t suffer the same heartbreak he’s had to endure. “Although this building has been the building that pushed legislation like SB1070, today we see that it did the complete opposite,” he said in the report. “Today we saw that true change can happen.”

“She was so unmotivated when she saw me trying to navigate the financial process of college, it didn’t matter what my grades were, it didn’t matter what extracurricular I did, the effort I put in, the sleepless nights,” he told AZ Mirror. “My sister has a chance now.”