Thread: GA-Colleges to check citizenship of fall applicants

Colleges to check citizenship of fall applicants


By Carolyn Crist
ccrist@gainesvilletimes.com

POSTED June 9, 2010 11:23 p.m.


Colleges and universities across the state must now review the citizenship of all fall 2010 applicants.


The Board of Regents passed the motion Wednesday during its monthly board meeting after considering the highly publicized case of Jessica Colotl, an undocumented student at Kennesaw State University.


Regent Kenneth Bernard suggested that the board deny any waiver that allows undocumented citizens to receive in-state tuition and require campus review of fall admission applications within the next 60 days.


“This is the board wanting to provide a stamp or backing to what has already taken place,â€

unlike KSU student Colotl, who received in-state tuition as a Georgia resident. College officials weren’t aware of her citizenship status until the Mexico native was stopped for a traffic violation in March. Immigration officials began a deportation process but allowed a one-year reprieve so she could complete her degree.

Why is this woman being rewarded like this. Her deportion should not be postponed.

Regent Kenneth Bernard suggested that the board deny any waiver that allows undocumented citizens to receive in-state tuition and require campus review of fall admission applications within the next 60 days.

What the hell is an "undocumented citizen"? They are just going way to far to keep from hurting peoples feeling, and a college no less!

Cobb sheriff asks GBI to investigate Board of Regents
by Kathryn Dobies
kdobies@mdjonline.com
June 09, 2010 12:00 AM | 1627 views | 41 | 20 | |


MARIETTA - Sheriff Neil Warren is calling for the Georgia Bureau of Investigation to probe the University System of Georgia's governing body, the Board of Regents, for possibly violating the law by admitting illegal immigrants into the state's universities.

Anti-illegal immigration activist D.A. King filed a complaint on May 19 with the GBI and Immigration and Customs Enforcement, then asked Warren to assist in the matter.

In a letter dated June 4, Warren referred to King's complaint, stating that the Board of Regents is in violation of state and federal laws, which prohibit state universities from admitting illegal immigrants.

"O.C.G.A. 50-3601(c)(7) requires compliance with 8 U.S.C. 1621 which provides that aliens not legally in the United States are ineligible for certain State or local benefits, including postsecondary education," Warren writes in his letter to GBI Director Vernon Keenan.

King said he contacted Warren on May 27, after he heard no response from GBI or ICE and read comments from a GBI spokesman in the Journal. In the May 26 article, the spokesman said GBI is not legally allowed to respond to a request from a citizen to open an investigation. Instead, an investigation request must come from an elected official or law enforcement official.

King's actions to contact the GBI were prompted by the case of Kennesaw State University student Jessica Colotl, who was stopped on campus for a traffic violation and arrested March 30 for failure to provide a valid driver's license. It was later discovered that she entered the country illegally at a young age with her parents and had been paying in-state tuition since she enrolled at KSU as a freshman in fall 2006. Nonetheless, she was released from a detention center in Alabama on May 5 and ICE deferred any action against her for one year so she could return to her studies at KSU.

On May 12, the Cobb Sheriff's Office obtained a warrant for Colotl on a felony charge of lying to law-enforcement officials, based on a reportedly false address she provided upon her book-in at the Cobb County Jail in March. Some immigration activists criticized Warren for the second arrest, claiming it was selective law enforcement. On May 14, Colotl turned herself into Cobb authorities and was released on a $2,500 bond.

Warren said he filed the request with GBI because, in his opinion, the law is being violated.



"The way I read the law, I think someone is in violation of the law and I think someone independently should look into it," Warren said.

In light of the criticism Warren has received regarding the Colotl case, he said he felt it was appropriate for an independent agency to do the investigation.

"I definitely didn't ask D.A. King or any other citizens to make that request to me," Warren said. "I felt obligated once it was brought to my attention to forward it to someone to look into it."

Warren has not yet received a response from GBI.

King said he is pleased that the sheriff responded to his request, and hopes that the GBI will investigate the Board of Regents and prove that they are in violation of the law.

"I am as always very grateful for the sheriff's grave attention to duty," King said.

In his letter to the GBI, Warren also copied Gov. Sonny Perdue and Attorney General Thurbert Baker.

King went on to say: "My hope is that the GBI will investigate and confirm what is evident to anybody that can read and is a smarter than a fifth grader ... This is not only a violation of a state law, but a violation of two separate federal laws."

The Board of Regents is holding its monthly meeting today and tomorrow, and has an item on its agenda slated as a residency verification presentation by legal chief James Burns Newsome. In response to King's request to the GBI, Regents spokesman John Millsaps denied that the board is breaking the law.

King, the founder of the Dustin Inman Society, said he plans to go to the Regents' meeting to hand out copies of the federal and state laws.

"I hope they ask themselves the question, how many real immigrants and American citizens have been put out of a classroom seat because of their violation of the law?" he said.


http://www.mdjonline.com/view/full_stor ... z0qNyl6rXt

Unfortunately, in the near future, it will not be the illegal alien students taking seats in our colleges and universities; it will be U.S. born anchor babies. My daughter knows an American born student whose parents are illegal and already this 8th grader is receiving mailings from some sort of college foundation inviting her and her parents to a seminar for college. These mailings mention that she may have the opportunity to attend college and have to pay little to nothing. Grants and aid for American students may instead go to kids whose parents are illegally in this country.

Originally Posted by hattiecat

Unfortunately, in the near future, it will not be the illegal alien students taking seats in our colleges and universities; it will be U.S. born anchor babies.

+1