Texas monitors California tuition case
By Brandi Grissom / Austin Bureau
Article Launched: 09/21/2008 12:00:00 AM MDT

AUSTIN -- Critics of a Texas law that allows undocumented immigrant students to pay in-state tuition rates scored a victory last week in California, where a panel of judges ruled that a similar measure violated federal law.

"Law-abiding citizens and taxpayers were the real winners in this decision," said Michael Hethmon, general counsel for the Immigration Reform Law Institute, which filed the case. "This opinion strikes a blow for the rule of law, common sense, and protection of public resources, and the legal precedents it sets will be felt all across the nation."

Texas was the first state to adopt a law allowing undocumented immigrants who meet certain requirements to pay in-state tuition instead of more expensive out-of-state or international rates.

Opponents argue the measure is unfair to U.S. citizens from other states who pay more to attend college.

That benefit, they say, encourages more illegal immigration.

Proponents say the law protects the investment the state has already made in educating those students in public schools and allows them to contribute to the economy.

"It's been good public policy," said state Rep. Rick Noriega, D-Houston, who wrote the 2001 Texas law that allows undocumented immigrants to pay in-state tuition.

The Immigration Reform Law Institute filed a lawsuit in California on behalf of out-of-state students who were required to pay higher rates than undocumented immigrant students.

A three-judge appeals court panel ruled Monday that the law violates the 1996 Immigration Act, which prohibits affording noncitizen students a benefit for which U.S. citizen students where ineligible.

"In their ruling, the judges indicated that federal law pre-empts not only California's in-state tuition law, but all such laws across the country," Hethmon said.

Attorneys for the Mexican-American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, which filed a brief in the California lawsuit, said the ruling would probably be appealed.

They urged the California Supreme Court to overrule the appellate judges and not close the door to higher education for undocumented students.

"They are graduates of our public schools and they, and their parents, have paid taxes to the state. California needs them for our future," said MALDEF attorney Nancy Ramirez.

In Texas, more than 10,000 students used the in-state tuition provision between 2001 and 2006, according to the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board.

Not all of them were undocumented immigrants.

The law allows undocumented students to pay the lower rate if they graduated from high school or received a GED in Texas, have lived in the state for three years, and sign an affidavit verifying they are seeking legal residency

Last year, about 60 students at the University of Texas at El Paso used the law, and a school official said about 10 were using it this year.

At El Paso Community College, about 300 students have used the law since 2004, said Paula Chavez, manager of the international students office.

Norma Cantu, a professor of law and education at University of Texas School of Law in Austin, said the California case would not be likely to affect Texas.

The lawsuit is in the beginning stages, she said, and it will be a long time before a judge or jury reaches a final decision.
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