Legal Experts Dispute King's, GOP Certainty that Immigrant Bill Violates Federal Law
March 12, 1:22 PM · 1 comment
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Sen. Keith King, R-Colorado SpringsKeith King is convinced that Colorado cannot make in-state tuition rates at its colleges and universities available to the children who are undocumented immigrants.

In a video released by the Republican senate caucus Wednesday the veteran legislator and first-term senator argued that SB 170 violates federal law.

The Colorado Springs Republican senator is not alone in his view.

Attorney General John Suthers (R) issued a 2006 opinion in which he asserted that the state is forbidden to charge resident tuition to kids brought across an international border by their parents without permission from Congress.

Despite GOP certainty on the issue, though, some legal experts believe federal law poses no obstacle at all to the passage of SB 170.

At the core of the dispute is the meaning of two federal statutes enacted in 1996.

The first of those federal laws, called the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996, says that undocumented immigrants are ineligible for state-based “public benefits,â€