In-state tuition rates for illegals challenged (Texas)

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In-state rates for illegal immigrants challenged
Group targets break that Texas colleges give illegal residents
12:10 AM CDT on Sunday, August 14, 2005
By MICHELLE MITTELSTADT / The Dallas Morning News

WASHINGTON – Nearly 4,000 Texas students would face a major tuition hike or loss of state financial aid if a conservative legal group successfully challenges a state law that has made college affordable for many illegal immigrants.

The Washington Legal Foundation has filed a complaint with the federal government charging that Texas is violating U.S. immigration law by allowing illegal immigrants living in the state to pay the same in-state tuition as Texas residents who are U.S. citizens.

Fresh from an unsuccessful challenge of a similar Kansas law in federal court, the group now has set its sights on Texas, which in 2001 became the first state to offer illegal immigrants in-state tuition rates and access to state financial aid. Paying in-state tuition can save students thousands of dollars a year.

The group's chief counsel, Richard Samp, contends that by offering in-state tuition to illegal immigrants, Texas is discriminating against non-Texans who don't get a similar tuition break.

And that, his group says, is a "flagrant" violation of a provision in the 1996 federal immigration law that sought to discourage states from offering tuition benefits to illegal immigrants by mandating that any state doing so has to grant similar discounts to all U.S. residents.

"We are out to enforce the law," Mr. Samp said.

The Homeland Security Department, which enforces immigration law, is reviewing the complaint, said spokeswoman Valerie Smith, declining to comment further. The Washington Legal Foundation is asking the department to direct Texas to cease what it deems a violation of civil rights and is urging that federal funds be withheld until the state complies.

At Houston Community College, which has enrolled more undocumented immigrants than any other Texas institution, students say loss of in-state rates would be harmful and counterproductive.

"If it wasn't for this program, not only myself but I know a lot of people who otherwise wouldn't be where they are," said Richard Rincon, a 20-year-old Venezuelan who is working toward an associate's degree at the college and intends to transfer to a four-year school to obtain a bachelor's degree in computer science.

"It just helps so much," said Mr. Rincon, who has spent more than half his life in Texas. "To think there are people out there trying to stop that is just ridiculous."

Like Mr. Rincon, Genesis Silva says the Texas law is instrumental to her education. The 21-year-old Honduran obtained scholarships through Houston Community College and now is seeking financial aid to enroll at the University of Houston.

"We are a low-income family. My mom is single, she has two daughters ... and it would just not have been possible without it," said Ms. Silva, who wants to become a speech therapist. "If we are wanting to go to college, it's because we want to do something productive with our lives."

Making it harder for illegal immigrants to get an education "in the end is not only hurting us as individuals but hurting our communities, too," she said.

At Houston Community College, an in-district student pays $588 a semester – compared with $1,476 for an out-of-state student, said college spokeswoman Carole Keeney Harrington. As for illegal immigrant students, she said: "They are just students as far as we are concerned, and we just want to see them do well and succeed."

Each year since the Texas law was enacted, the number of students using it has risen – from 393 in fall 2001 to 3,704 last fall, according to the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board.

Although a small number may be children of legal immigrants in Texas on certain visas, the vast majority are illegal immigrants, said Ray Grasshoff, director of special projects at the coordinating board.

Eight states have joined Texas in offering in-state tuition to illegal immigrants: California, Illinois, Kansas, New Mexico, New York, Oklahoma, Utah and Washington. An effort to pass similar federal legislation, known as the DREAM Act, has been stalled in Congress.

The National Council of La Raza and the League of United Latin American Citizens criticized the Washington Legal Foundation's effort as an attack on immigrants.

"Let's just call it what it really is," said Adrian Rodriguez, Texas LULAC's chief of staff. "This isn't about human rights for all of the citizens of the United States. This is about bigotry and racism."

Mr. Samp, the foundation's chief counsel, rejected the accusation. "I've been called racist many times in my life. That would be nothing new. But I in fact consider myself very pro-immigrant."

While supportive of legal immigration, Mr. Samp said his group opposes benefits for illegal immigrants, whose estimated numbers now exceed 11 million in the U.S.

The group's challenge to the Texas law is "born out of a frustration that there is a problem that needs to be addressed," he said.

Cecilia Muñoz, vice president of the National Council of La Raza, questioned what benefit there is to denying people an education and pathway to better jobs. Noting the advent of civilian patrols on the Southwest border, and recent battles over the funding of sites for day laborers and denial of benefits to illegal immigrants in Arizona, Ms. Muñoz said: "There are skirmishes going on [over] a variety of things – none of which have any chance of solving the nation's immigration problems."

Mr. Samp replied: "They are all pieces of the same effort to enforce immigration laws in this country."

E-mail mmittelstadt@dallasnews.com

WHERE THEY'RE STUDYING

The top 10 destinations for the 3,704 immigrants, most illegal, paying in-state tuition rates at Texas institutions of higher learning in the fall 2004 semester (Dallas County Community Colleges in bold):

Houston Community College System: 394

San Antonio College: 173

Richland College: 169

Brookhaven College: 151

Austin Community College: 150

University of Houston-Downtown: 146

Mountain View College: 146

Eastfield College: 144

University of Texas at Austin: 142

Texas Southmost College: 135

SOURCE: Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board

Quote:

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The Washington Legal Foundation has filed a complaint with the federal government charging that Texas is violating U.S. immigration law by allowing illegal immigrants living in the state to pay the same in-state tuition as Texas residents who are U.S. citizens.

Fresh from an unsuccessful challenge of a similar Kansas law in federal court, the group now has set its sights on Texas, which in 2001 became the first state to offer illegal immigrants in-state tuition rates and access to state financial aid. Paying in-state tuition can save students thousands of dollars a year.

The group's chief counsel, Richard Samp, contends that by offering in-state tuition to illegal immigrants, Texas is discriminating against non-Texans who don't get a similar tuition break.

And that, his group says, is a "flagrant" violation of a provision in the 1996 federal immigration law that sought to discourage states from offering tuition benefits to illegal immigrants by mandating that any state doing so has to grant similar discounts to all U.S. residents.

"We are out to enforce the law," Mr. Samp said.

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God Bless you, Mr. Samp. Hell, a lawyer on OUR SIDE. 8)
This in state for out of country excrement is just that. Why can't a kid from Wilson, N.C. get the same break for coming to Texas Tech? This one hits me in the stomach with a college freshman in the house. Daddy's baby, better known as Jessica, or the "Princess", wanted to go to OU with her buds. But NO. The out of state rates would have hurt even old Sixx. I would have paid it, but the Princess said "never mind Dad". I don't have a problem with any child getting an education, just not at my ADDED expense. I love kids. They are most of my patients. Little ones and big ones. A kid is a kid. But to make them a political pawn makes me mad and sad.