Presidents’ Alliance on Higher Education and Immigration

The Presidents’ Alliance created the RESPONSE Campaign, a proposed university sponsorship program that would recruit potential students from refugee camps around the world. The program would fund the higher education of accepted refugees and provide an immigration pathway for students to remain in the U.S. following the completion of their studies. ^{3 4} The Presidents’ Alliance has advocated for universities to extend in-state tuition to illegal-immigrant students to increase student diversity following the U.S. Supreme Court decision to end affirmative action programs on campuses in 2023. ^{5 6}

The President’s Alliance is funded by and affiliated with several organizations, including FWD.US Education Fund, a left-of-center expansionist immigration organization co-founded by Mark Zuckerberg; ⁷ Open Society Policy Center, a lobbying group founded by liberal billionaire George Soros; ⁸ and Schmidt Futures, whose CEO came under fire for indirectly funding the salaries of more than two dozen officials in the Biden administration. ^{8 9}

Background

The Presidents’ Alliance was founded in 2017 with the mission of supporting immigrant and international students on college campuses. The organization has focused its efforts on lobbying the government in support of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), hosting webinars and creating toolkits dedicated to supporting illegal immigrants, and expanding the number of immigrants receiving higher education.  ¹⁰

Since its founding, the Presidents’ Alliance has supported the implementation of a path to citizenship for DACA recipients and other illegal immigrants. Louis Caldera, co-founder of the Presidents’ Alliance, stated, “Congress should declare the program [DACA] a success and enshrine a pathway for Dreamers’ citizenship into law once and for all.” ¹¹

Advocacy and Lobbying

In 2020, the Presidents’ Alliance sent a letter to then-President-elect Joe Biden urging his administration to implement various changes to Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals. These propositions included accepting applications from immigrants who were convicted of a crime five or more years prior to the application date, restoring access to the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) for DACA recipients, and reallocating funds from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to provide financial assistance and fee waivers to DACA applicants.  ¹²

In 2022, The Presidents’ Alliance partnered with TheDream.US to launch a “Week of Action for Dreamers,” a lobbying campaign urging Congress to pass legislation to provide permanent protections for DACA recipients and other illegal immigrants. Members of the Presidents’ Alliance participated in a Washington, D.C. fly-in to meet with Senators and their staffs.  ¹³

As part of the campaign, the Presidents’ Alliance took part in a White House meeting with Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona, where members expressed support of passing legislation that would provide current, former, and future illegal-immigrant high-school graduates and GED recipients a pathway to U.S. citizenship through college, work, or the armed services. ^{8 14}

The Presidents’ Alliance partnered with the Higher Ed Immigration Portal to create the Refugee Sponsorship for Education (RESPONSE) campaign, a proposed sponsorship program that would recruit potential students and fund the entirety of their higher education.  ¹⁵ The program would conduct outreach to refugee camps overseas but would also accept applications from individuals not officially recognized as refugees who are registered as asylum seekers. ¹⁶

The Presidents’ Alliance conducted an expected price breakdown for the program’s first year based on a projected initial cohort of 30 refugee students. The Presidents’ Alliance estimated that it would cost $1 million for the program’s staff, the coordination of stakeholders, pre-departure activities, and training of U.S. university staff, plus an additional $41,450 – $103,100 per student to cover travel costs, tuition, room and board, food, a phone and computer, textbooks, etc. ^{16 17} In total, the RESPONSE program would require between $2 million and $4 million in funding in its first year.

The Presidents’ Alliance identified potential funding sources, including the U.S. government, institutions of higher education, United Nations agencies, faith-based organizations, and other philanthropic organizations. ¹⁸

Funding and Affiliated Partners

Big Philanthropy

In 2021, the Presidents’ Alliance received $360,000 from FWD.US Education Fund, an immigration and criminal justice reform organization created by Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg. ¹⁹ Zuckerberg has funded numerous left-of-center immigration organizations, including making a $5 million donation to TheDream.US in 2015. The Dream.US is an affiliate partner organization of the Presidents’ Alliance that provides scholarships for undocumented immigrants. ^{20 7}

The Presidents’ Alliance received $100,000 from Open Society Policy Center in 2021 and $75,000 in 2019. ^{21 22}Open Society Policy Center is a “social welfare” lobbying organization financed by George Soros. ²³

Additional donors include the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the Carnegie Corporation of New York, the Shapiro Foundation, and the Walder Family Foundation. ⁷

The Presidents’ Alliance has several affiliated partners, including the Ford Foundation, Schmidt Futures, the Kresge Foundation, Open Society Foundations, and the Lumina Foundation. ⁸

Government Funding

With funding from the U.S. Department of State Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration, the Presidents’ Alliance helped launch the Higher Education in Refugee Resettlement (SHERR) project. SHERR was designed to involve universities in refugee resettlement by providing academic scholarships, housing, home furnishings, language training, and legal support. ²⁴

People

The Presidents’ alliance was co-founded by Louis Caldera and Miriam Feldblum. Caldera served in the Obama administration as an Assistant to the President and as the Director of the White House Military Office. Caldera served as Secretary of the Army during the Clinton Administration. ^{25 26}

Co-founder Miriam Feldblum previously worked as vice president for student affairs, dean of students, and professor of politics at Pomona College. She is a fellow at the Migration Policy Institute, a think tank that advocates for the legal residence for illegal immigrants. ^{25 27}