Thread: Rule change to allow immigrant veterans to get tuition benef

Jan. 15, 2008, 8:35PM
Rule change to allow immigrant veterans to get tuition benefit
By ANABELLE GARAY Associated Press Writer
© 2008 The Associated Press

DALLAS — Texas education officials revised rules on Tuesday that had prevented some immigrant veterans from receiving a tuition exemption for their college education.

After a lawsuit and a change in opinion by the attorney general's office, the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board adopted the temporary rules allowing all veterans who qualified to benefit from the Texas Hazlewood Act — whether they were U.S. citizens or legal residents when they joined the military.

The rule revisions go into effect immediately, in time to help students enrolling this semester, according to the coordinating board.

"It opens up the doors for hundreds of persons who otherwise would be excluded just because of their national origin," said David Hinojosa, staff attorney for the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, which represents veterans who had been excluded from the Hazlewood Act.

Hazlewood benefits exempt those who were legal residents of Texas at the time they entered the military from paying tuition and some fees at state colleges.

But veterans who were legal permanent residents, meaning green card holders, when they entered the military could not rely on Hazlewood, even if they had since become citizens of the U.S. The application for the Hazlewood waiver asks whether the applicant was a U.S. citizen upon entering the military. If the answer is no, the application instructs the person not to continue the process.

"They ignored case law that says you can't treat legal permanent residents different ... than you can treat U.S. citizens," Hinojosa said.

MALDEF sued the state Higher Education Coordinating Board in June on behalf of six Gulf War veterans and the American GI Forum of Texas over their veterans' exclusion from the Texas Hazlewood Act.

Some had been deterred from continuing their education and one waited to file a law school application because they couldn't afford it without Hazlewood, Hinojosa said.

Last week, their attorneys asked a federal court for an injunction to stop the state from denying the Hazlewood benefits to the veterans. The plaintiffs would have to put their education on hold or drop out if they couldn't count on the financial help, the filing said.

In its response to the filing, the attorney general's office revised its opinion on Monday, and said the U.S. citizenship requirement should not be included in the Hazlewood Act.

Two opinions previously issued by the attorney general's office had said the Hazlewood Act phrase "citizen of Texas" should be interpreted as a person who lives in the state and is a U.S. citizen.

In a letter Monday, Attorney General Greg Abbott said his office was agreeing with the construction in the request for an opinion and was not asked if the provision was unconstitutional.

"It is now urged that a decision of the U.S. Supreme Court compels the conclusion that any such statutory requirement would be unconstitutional," said a letter by Abbott to Sen. Leticia Van de Putte, chairwoman of the Veterans Affairs and Military Installations.

The changes were adopted in an emergency meeting Tuesday and will be up for final adoption at the next full Higher Education Coordinating Board meeting in April, said agency spokeswoman De Juana Lozada.

Texas General Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson cautions the legal change isn't enough since subsequent attorneys general could again revise rulings on this issue.

"In the long run, the legislature must take action to fix this problem," Patterson, chairman of the Texas Veterans Land Board, said in a news release. "They must close any legal loopholes that deny our heroes their benefits."

Only people with legal status can join the U.S. military. About 40,000 non-U.S. citizens are serving in the military, according to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/tx/5458013.html

Only people with legal status can join the U.S. military. About 40,000 non-U.S. citizens are serving in the military, according to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.

see Bulldogger's post about Cesar Armando Laurean, the marine the FBI is searching for because of alleged involvement in the death of the pregnant marine.
"WANTED! Hmm.. Is the MSM overlooking the obvious?"

http://www.alipac.us/ftopict-98593-marine.html

"Evil unchecked grows. Evil tolerated poisons the whole system."
Jawaharlal Nehru