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To: mylife

Sure...IRCOT v. Texas

4. In violation of federal law, more than 12,000 illegal aliens attending Texas colleges and universities are classified as residents and allowed to pay in-state tuition and/or receive state financial aid. For example, illegal aliens attending community colleges in Harris County are paying resident tuition and receiving grants under the Texas Educational Opportunity Grant Program.
5. A national treatise states:
[Federal law] does, however, permit states to make undocumented aliens eligible for postsecondary benefits (and other state and local benefits) for which they are otherwise ineligible under Section 1621(a), but only if states do so “through the enactment of a state law after August 22, 1996, which affirmatively provides for such eligibility” (8 U.S.C. § 1621(d)). Another provision of [federal law] limits this state authority, specifically with respect to “postsecondary education benefit(s),” by providing that states may not provide greater benefits to undocumented aliens than it provides to United States citizens who are not residents of the state (8 U.S.C. § 1623).
THE LAW OF HIGHER EDUCATION, Vol. I at 840 (2006).
6. Under the general rule stated in title 8 U.S.C. section 1621(a), an illegal alien “is not eligible for” postsecondary education benefits such as resident tuition and state financial aid.
7. Under Texas law, an illegal alien is eligible for resident tuition and state financial aid. See, e.g., OVERVIEW: Residency and In-State Tuition (Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board 09/2008) (“House Bill 1403 granted certain non-immigrant students, including undocumented students, access to in-state tuition rates at Texas public institutions of higher education and state financial aid.”).
8. However, the Texas Legislature has never affirmatively provided for such eligibility through the enactment of a state law.
9. No Texas statute enacted before or after August 22, 1996 specifies that an illegal alien, illegal immigrant, undocumented alien, undocumented immigrant, or “alien who is not lawfully present in the United States” is eligible for resident tuition or state financial aid.
10. Federal law forces a state that wants to provide post- secondary education benefits to illegal aliens to expressly state that intent in a statute. Doing so places the public on actual notice that their tax dollars are being used to support illegal aliens. It is a matter of democratic accountability, forcing state elected officials to take public responsibility for their actions.
11. Under the Supremacy Clause, federal law prevails over state law. Therefore, in Texas, an illegal alien is not eligible for discounted in-state tuition or any form of state student financial aid. Cf. Tex. Att’y Gen. Op. No. JC-0394 (2001) at 8 (concluding that title 8 U.S.C. § 1621 “prohibits the Harris County Hospital District from providing free or discounted nonemergency health care to undocumented aliens, even if they reside within the district’s boundaries”).
12. In Texas, an illegal alien is eligible on the basis of residence within the state for certain postsecondary education benefits (e.g., to be eligible for a TEXAS grant, an illegal alien must have “maintained a residence continuously in this state for [] the 12 months preceding the census date of the academic semester in which the person enrolls in an institution”).
13. However, a citizen or national of the United States is not eligible for those same postsecondary education benefits without regard to whether he or she is a Texas resident (e.g., a citizen of the United States who resided in Oklahoma immediately prior to enrolling in a Texas college or university is not eligible for a TEXAS grant).
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14. In enacting title 8 U.S.C. section 1623, which is entitled “Limitation on eligibility for preferential treatment of aliens not lawfully present on basis of residence for higher education benefits,” Congress sought to prohibit a state acting under title 8 U.S.C. section 1621(d) from being more generous to illegal aliens who reside in the state than it is to United States citizens and nationals who do not reside in the state with regard to the provision of postsecondary education benefits.
15. Texas law, which allows illegal aliens to qualify as Texas residents for purposes of tuition and financial aid but denies resident tuition and state financial aid to nonresident students, conflicts with both the plain language and the stated purpose of title 8 U.S.C. section 1623. Therefore, the provisions of Texas law that allow an illegal alien to qualify as a Texas resident for purposes of discounted in-state tuition and state student financial aid are preempted, void, and of no effect.
16. In its suit, IRCOT seeks an order enjoining the defendants from making, approving, or forwarding a monetary grant to an illegal alien under the Texas Educational Opportunity Grant Program, the Toward Excellence, Access, & Success Grant Program, or the Tuition Equalization Grant Program.
17. Texas is clearly violating federal law. However, to ensure success, IRCOT needs two types of assistance. First, IRCOT needs one or more persons who pay the state business tax to become members of the organization. This will solidify IRCOT’s standing to bring suit. Second, IRCOT needs financial contributions to pay for formal discovery. Both access to the relevant government documents and depositions of the important government actors are necessary to properly support IRCOT’s motion for summary judgment.


106 posted on 09/23/2011 6:11:10 PM PDT by magna carta
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To: magna carta
This is a filing by IRCOT.
It is not a listing of actual law.

It is an opinion,or argument, and a poor one at that.

133 posted on 09/23/2011 6:30:09 PM PDT by mylife (OPINIONS ~ $ 1.00 HALFBAKED ~ 50c)
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