Posted on 02/01/2005 4:27:27 PM PST by ken21
Tuition law for illegal immigrants challenged Lawsuit filed in says Kansas law, similar to Texas', violates federal statute
By Juan Castillo
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Tuesday, February 1, 2005
Almost four years after Texas became the first state to make in-state college tuition rates and financial aid available to immigrant children regardless of their legal status, a lawsuit filed in Kansas threatens Texas' law as well.
Gov. Rick Perry enacted House Bill 1403 in 2001, and supporters hailed it as a compassionate way to help immigrants attend college.
By fall 2003, nearly 4,800 students had taken advantage of the law at state institutions in Texas. Seven other states, including Kansas, passed similar laws.
But the Washington-based Federation for American Immigration Reform, which opposes illegal immigration, sued in July, challenging Kansas' law on behalf of about two dozen out-of-state students and their parents.
The lawsuit argues that the Kansas statute violates a 1996 federal law barring states from giving public benefits to immigrants who are in the country illegally. It contends that the state is violating another 1996 law forbidding states from granting undocumented immigrants residence status so they can qualify for in-state tuition.
Because the Kansas and Texas laws are similar -- both require students to live in the state at least three years before graduating from high school, and to declare an intention to seek legal resident status as soon as eligible -- an adverse ruling could undercut Texas' program.
"This would set a legal precedent," said federation media director Ira Mehlman. "Under federal law, any benefit a state makes available to an illegal alien must also be made to any legal resident of the United States, irrespective of whether they are residents of that particular state."
But immigrant advocate groups monitoring the case say Kansas, Texas and other states are not violating federal law because the requirements they set for in-state tuition apply to all students, whether in the country illegally or not.
"This is good policy because it behooves us to educate those who have already integrated into our communities, who are part of our communities, who want to contribute both to our local and federal economy," said Melissa Lazarin with the National Council of La Raza in Washington.
Kris Kobach, the federation's attorney, said he expects a judge to rule in the case this month or early March.
"We're very concerned about what kind of effect this is going to have," Marisol Pérez, an attorney for the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, said recently.
The legal challenge is at the heart of a national debate about immigration and, specifically, what to do about educating the country's growing immigrant children population.
An estimated 1.5 million undocumented children live in the United States, many who came not by choice.
Pérez, who spoke at last week's Texas Association of Chicanos in Higher Education conference in Austin, said the federation is well-funded and is seeking to capitalize on an anti-immigrant climate. The Kansas case, she said, is "certainly having a chilling effect with the immigrant communities."
At their meeting, the Chicano educators and administrators also rallied behind federal legislation known as the Dream Act. The measure, which has bipartisan support and has been introduced every year since 2001, would allow some undocumented students to apply for legal residency, which could lead to citizenship.
An estimated 65,000 immigrants without legal status, who have lived in the country for at least five years, graduate from U.S. high schools each year. For most, college is unaffordable. But even if it were, the students cannot legally hold jobs in the United States.
Lazarin said La Raza is working with Congress to reintroduce the Dream Act.
Mehlman said the federation still opposes the legislation because members think it provides amnesty in addition to a taxpayer-subsidized higher education. He said proponents argue that those the Dream Act would help are in a quandary not of their making.
"But it is the parents who put them in that position by knowingly breaking the law," Mehlman said. "We all end up suffering for mistakes our parents make. . . . But we hold the parents responsible in our society."
A new student group at the University of Texas, Jovenes Immigrantes por un Futuro Mejor (Immigrant Youth for a Better Future), will press for passage of the Dream Act "because we already have students who are graduating (from college) and there is no prospect for them getting work authorization anytime soon," said Alejandra Rincón, immigrant students college coordinator with the Austin school district.
jcastillo@statesman.com; 445-3635
Universidad Autonoma de Guadalajara (UAG)
La Universidad Autónoma de Guadalajara es una institución superior de cultura, ciencia, educación, arte y tecnología al servicio de la humanidad, que educa al más alto nivel y forma íntegramente a la persona en lo intelectual, moral, social...
produces a lotta socialists and communists.
si.
it's like egypt. they sit around the cafes discussing how they hate the americans.
"Almost four years after Texas became the first state to make in...."
Guess who was Govenor of Texas when the bill was passed?
Lets see, you don't suppose this might be another thread to be avoided by the pro-illegal alien amen corner, do you? Gee, wonder where they went...
i've wondered for 20 years why more mexicans don't go back to mexico.
i've known a few. one stands out: a oaxacan with a 6th grade education that made it thru' 2 years at a ca community college at night after working days as a landscaper. he divorced his wife, whom he said was lazy, and left her here.
he went back to mexico with a new computer and a new tractor.
but there are few like him.
for one thing, mexico is very RACIST. the people we see here are the people discriminated against there.
Why am I not surprised? LOL
I would wonder why any foreign student would be stupid enough to pay the higher foreign student rate if much lower tuition is offered to those who break the laws. Why should a legal student from India not be given the same break? We're supposed not to discriminate on the basis of national origin so if one set of foreign students are being given every kind of handout there is --- why punish the better quality ones?
i've never met one that was concerned about the effect here.
there's this attitude among mexicans that gringos are rich.
College is actually free in Mexico for Mexican citizens --- so there is no hardship at all if they are sent home --- they can easily go to college there if they want.
there's always been all of my life this unspoken sense among mexicans that
"you owe us",
and americans have responded.
Bush, Bush was governor?! He was responsible for this bill?!
Bush pushed the bill in his last term as govenor put it was Perry that enacted the law.
I went to Mexico, Cozumel.
The pretty girls and good looking young women stand in the corners practically huddling. Do you know why?
Sexual Harrassment. The men there will touch you, follow you a few steps, whistle at you, and just look at you up and down.
It was uncomfortable. I didn't feel threatened, I just felt very uncomfortable.
Actually, most don't. Most legal immigrants are poor, which means they don't pay much in taxes, what with our progressive tax code and all, and their poverty makes them eligible for all kinds of government programs.
Harvard Economist Jorge Borjas has definitively shown that on average, immigrants over the last 20 some odd years, on average, have been a net drain. That's not to say that they're all a net drain. Many are skilled and hard-working and contribute hansomly. But that's not true for the majority.
This surprises you?
Yes, it does.
"But it is the parents who put them in that position by knowingly breaking the law," Mehlman said. "We all end up suffering for mistakes our parents make. . . . But we hold the parents responsible in our society."
No we don't. We hold the taxpayers responsible. If we held parents responsible we wouldn't have all those government giveaway programs. The only parents who take responsibility for their children are forced to be responsible for all who don't.
here we are, legal, working, tax paying citizens and we can't catch a break.....
can you explain please....
Why? Our Texas colleges and universities are for TEXANS, not yankees and Californians.
Not all Americans are TEXANS and not all TEXANS are Americans.
When someone:
Lives TEXAN
Works TEXAN
Talks TEXAN
Walks TEXAN
Thinks TEXAN
Worships TEXAN
Looks TEXAN
Eats TEXAn
Plays TEXAN
Pays TEXAN taxes
Supports TEXAN professional sports teams
and loves TEXAS,
They are TEXANS, and deserve the same rights and privileges as all TEXANS. Who cares if they're not Americans. Texas taxpayers don't get to say who's an American and who isn't. And a bunch of jealous yankees shouldn't prevent us from saying who's a TEXAN and who ain't.
We get the indios. The white upper class runs Mexico. The people coming here are mestizos and indios for the most part and are discriminated against there.
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