NE Bill Would Keep Illegals From Getting In State Tuition
Bill would keep undocumented students from getting in-state tuition
StoryDiscussionBy JoANNE YOUNG / Lincoln Journal Star | Posted: Wednesday, January 20, 2010 8:40 pm | (5) Comments
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Sen. Charlie Janssen .
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State Sen. Charlie Janssen of Fremont says the issue of in-state tuition for undocumented students is black and white.
He contends that Nebraska's Dream Act violates federal law that says no benefits -- like in-state tuition -- can be given to illegal immigrants that are not offered to U.S. citizens.
On Wednesday Janssen introduced a bill (LB1001) that would keep undocumented students from qualifying for in-state tuition.
Former Lincoln Sen. DiAnna Schimek, who led the charge on getting the Dream Act passed in 2006, says it doesn't violate federal law.
The Utah attorney general in 2006 issued an opinion stating that state's Dream Act was valid and permissible. And the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver dismissed a legal challenge of a similar law in Kansas.
Schimek said that in crafting the Nebraska law, proponents of the Dream Act had studied carefully the briefs written on the issue, including the Utah opinion.
Nebraska's law is based on graduation from a Nebraska high school after living here three years. The same rule could apply to any student who moves here from another state, she said.
"I believe it is defensible. The law speaks for itself."
In 2008, however, a California appeals court said eligibility requirements in that state's law of high school attendance and graduation were a de facto residency requirement and in violation of federal law.
Schimek said members of Nebraska's P-16 Committee, which Gov. Dave Heineman now heads, supported the bill in 2006. Committee members included NU President J.B. Milliken, Commissioner of Education Doug Christensen and other education officials.
They said in 2006 the Latino population was the fastest growing in the state and was expected to make up 20 percent of K-12 enrollment within a decade.
Putting up barriers, they said, impedes Nebraska's efforts to increase its college-going rate and to improve the quality of the workforce. Allowing those students in-state tuition is in the best interest of the state, they said.
Forty-three undocumented students are taking advantage of the Nebraska Dream Act. There are 35 in the University of Nebraska system (17 at the University of Nebraska at Omaha, three at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and 15 at the University of Nebraska at Kearney). Eight students are at community colleges. No undocumented students attend state colleges using the law.
Nine states besides Nebraska have a Dream Act, including Kansas, Texas and New Mexico.
When the Legislature passed the Dream Act in 2006 with 27 votes, Heineman vetoed it. The bill then got 30 votes to override the veto.
Janssen believes senators erred in passing the law. Fourteen other senators have signaled support for his bill by signing on to it.
People so often talk about how the federal government is not doing enough on the immigration issue, he said. But it has done something in this case, and Nebraska has chosen to ignore it.
"We can't have our cake and eat it, too," he said.
Janssen's bill would not apply to any undocumented student in college as of September 2010, or any current high school senior.
"That's put in there to get votes on the floor," Janssen said.
If someone is in college or about to go to college, it could be more palatable to some senators to not pull the allowance of in-state tuition from them, he said.
Personally, he would roll it back all at once, he said.
"I think it's time for people in Nebraska to speak out," he said. "Illegal is illegal."
Reach JoAnne Young at 473-7228 or jyoung@journalstar.com.
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