Illegal immigrant tuition is a hot topic in Texas and across the nation and Wednesday night it was at the center of a heated debate at Texas A&M where Student Senators approved a student senate bill officially opposing in-state tuition with 41 votes for, 26 against, and 2 abstaining.

Texas A&M currently has about 300 undocumented students
out of a total enrollment of 49,000.

"The bill is not a statement about who should or should not be at Texas A&M. The bill is not a statement about who should be in this country," said Texas A&M Student Senator Justin Pulliam.

The animal science junior originally proposed Senate Bill 63-11 in April.

"The bill is just saying automatic in-state tuition based on residency in Texas should not be applied to people that are in the country illegally," Pulliam said.

Wednesday night more than 60 people protested outside of the Koldus Building opposing the bill and it was standing room only inside for the student senate meeting.

"We're against this simply because this shouldn't be at the student senate. The student senate at Texas A&M is there to help Aggies not to hurt Aggies or to cause emotional pain," said Texas A&M Senior Jose Luis.

Luis believes the bill singles out students.

Under state law students who have graduated from a Texas high school and meet certain requirements are eligible for in-state tuition at any of the state's public universities, regardless if they are legal residents or not.

While the vote Wednesday night won't carry any legal implications,

Texas A&M Political Science Assistant Professor Francisco Pedraza said the discussion could make it's way to Austin.

"This isn't a decision that is being made by actual policy makers but to the extent that the student body is successful in lobbying policy makers, then yes, perhaps you could sway some some policy makers thinking about that particular issue," said Francisco Pedraza, PhD.

"Whenever those students are coming to Texas A&M we are telling them yeah you are good enough but at the same time you have to pay more because of a mistake that your parents did. So it's sending a negative message out there and it's not making Texas A&M look like it really is, the friendliest campus in the nation," said Jose Luis.

The bill had more than 40 sponsors and 5 senators supporting it when it was introduced Wednesday night.

Student Senator Justin Pulliam said the recommendation would be sent to federal and state officials for legislation consideration.