Thread: Suit Challenges California's Tuition Rule for Illegal Immigr

http://www.nytimes.com

December 15, 2005
Suit Challenges California's Tuition Rule for Illegal Immigrants
By RACHEL L. SWARNS
WASHINGTON, Dec. 14 - About three dozen students filed a lawsuit against the University of California on Wednesday, charging that it had violated federal law by allowing illegal immigrants to pay in-state tuition rates at its campuses while maintaining higher rates for out-of-state students.

The students, all from out of state, are represented by a legal team that includes Kris W. Kobach, a conservative lawyer and former Justice Department official who shaped national immigration policy under former Attorney General John Ashcroft. Mr. Kobach said the policy discriminates against out-of-state students who are American citizens and pay higher tuition than students who are in this country illegally.

"Citizen students have been mortgaging their futures and taking on really heavy student loans," Mr. Kobach, a law professor at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, said in a telephone interview from Sacramento, where he is working with the firm of Ropers, Majeski, Kohn & Bentley. "Meanwhile, they see aliens who are unlawfully present in the United States getting a massive subsidy from the State of California."

The move plunges California into the midst of a national debate over how to handle the millions of students living in this country illegally.

Federal law requires state universities that offer in-state tuition rates to illegal immigrants to do the same for students from other states, imposing a steep financial barrier to the policy. But since 2001, nine states, including California, have passed laws to circumvent that requirement, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

Supporters say children who are illegal immigrants did not choose to enter the United States illegally and can make valuable contributions to society if allowed to continue their studies.

Ravi Poorsina, a spokeswoman for the University of California, said it allows students who have attended local high schools for three years and graduated from a local high school to benefit from in-state tuition rates. Students who are illegal immigrants must also sign an affidavit saying they are applying for legal residency.

Ms. Poorsina said that in the 2003-2004 school year, about 390 illegal immigrants paid in-state tuition, currently about $6,700 a year. Out-of-state students pay about $24,500 a year. "We believe it's not in conflict with federal law," she said of the university's policy.

But the adoption of this policy by some states has stirred others to another action. This year, seven states considered passing laws barring illegal immigrants from benefiting from in-state tuition rates, the Conference of State Legislatures said.

Mr. Kobach, who helped shape the Justice Department's policy of tracking and deporting thousands of Arab and Muslim illegal immigrants in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, filed a similar suit in Kansas in 2004. It was dismissed on technical grounds but is now on appeal.

Mr. Kobach has received support from the Federation for American Immigration Reform, a Washington group that advocates strict limits on immigration. The group has provided research and assistance in finding plaintiffs.

Chaning Jang, a senior at the University of California, Davis, said he joined the lawsuit after reading an advertisement placed by the lawyers in a college newspaper. "It's kind of an insult that illegal immigrants who aren't U.S. citizens get more than we do," said Mr. Jang, 21, of Hilo, Hawaii.

http://www.latimes.com

Out-of-State Students Sue Over Tuition
Plaintiffs are challenging California practices that require them to pay higher college costs than some illegal immigrants.
By Stuart Silverstein
Times Staff Writer

December 15, 2005

Contending that they are illegally charged higher tuition and fees than undocumented immigrants, a group of out-of-state students and parents filed a class-action lawsuit Wednesday against California's public university and community college systems.

The suit, filed in Yolo County Superior Court, challenges practices based on 2001 state legislation that allows certain undocumented immigrants to pay the same charges for college as other California students. California is one of at least nine states that permit some undocumented immigrants to pay in-state fees, an issue that has drawn fire from advocates of tougher policies against illegal immigration.

The suit contends that 60,000 out-of-state students at University of California, California State University and public community college campuses have illegally been required in recent years to pay higher, nonresident charges. For example, out-of-state undergraduates at UC campuses are paying an average of $24,589 to attend this year, versus the $6,769 charged students who qualify for in-state fees.

In California, the number of undocumented students paying in-state fee levels is believed to be by far the highest at community colleges, but their number, estimated at 15,000, is well below 1% of overall enrollment at the two-year schools. At UC last year, 407 students were counted as "potentially" undocumented immigrants. Cal State provided no estimate.

No specific amount of damages is sought in the suit, but the lead lawyer for the group of 42 named plaintiffs, Redwood City attorney Michael J. Brady, said the amount could total "hundreds of millions" of dollars.

Among the plaintiffs are former San Diego County Rep. Brian Bilbray, the Republican running for the seat vacated by Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham, who recently pleaded guilty to corruption charges. Bilbray has been active in efforts against illegal immigration. Also named are Bilbray's two children, Briana and Patrick, who reportedly had to pay out-of-state tuition at San Diego City College after moving back to California from Virginia.

Along with seeking compensation for the out-of-state plaintiffs, the case could galvanize critics of illegal immigration who want to do away with the provisions granting in-state rates for qualifying undocumented students who attended California high schools.

"We think this could be a major, precedent-setting case," said Ira Mehlman, a spokesman for the Federation for American Immigration Reform, a Washington-based group that lobbies for tighter immigration restrictions. Providing in-state fees for undocumented immigrants "is something that rewards illegal immigration [and] encourages more people to violate the immigration law," Mehlman added.

His organization said it has provided legal advice to the plaintiffs' lawyers in the case filed Wednesday. The organization was also an architect of a similar suit brought in Kansas that was dismissed this summer by a federal district judge but remains under appeal.

Bilbray has served as a lobbyist for the federation. But Mehlman said Bilbray did not initiate the California case.

In addition, a University of Missouri-Kansas City law professor and former Bush administration official, Kris Kobach, is serving as a lawyer for the plaintiffs in both the Kansas and California cases.

Immigration rights advocates expressed support for the California law. John Trasvina, senior vice president for law and policy with the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, said the states providing similar tuition breaks to undocumented immigrants are "a real tremendous cross-section of the country. They range from California and Texas to Kansas and Utah…. It's rare to have a consensus of opinion among those states. They are very red and very blue states, but each state sees a benefit."

Trasvina called the suit "a mean-spirited effort to deny undocumented students an education."

The lawsuit argues that California's law violates, among other things, federal immigration reform legislation passed in 1996. The suit interprets the federal law as requiring states that provide in-state rates to undocumented immigrant students to offer the same benefit to out-of-state students.

"The key violation is providing a special benefit to someone unlawfully in the United States," Brady said. He contended that California officials are flouting the concepts of fair protection and fairness by allowing "illegal aliens to get greater benefits than American citizens attending school here."

Leaders of California's public colleges and universities defended their policies, known as AB 540 exemptions after the bill that authorized it.

"My job isn't to patrol the border. My job is to build healthy communities," said Marshall "Mark" Drummond, chancellor of California Community Colleges. "Regardless of the merits of these folks coming here in the first place, the point is to me that they're here, they're residents of communities, they are successful graduates of California high schools, and I personally welcome them to study and learn in our community colleges and contribute back to their communities."

To qualify for the lower in-state charges, students must have attended three years of high school in California, graduated from a California school and gained admission to one of the state's universities or colleges.

Officials said more U.S. citizens appear to benefit from the exemptions than undocumented immigrants. For instance, it applies to students who are U.S. citizens whose parents have moved to other states after the students' high school graduation.

As a result, UC spokeswoman Ravi Poorsina said her system's policy does not violate federal law, because it is not aimed at providing special benefits to undocumented immigrant students.

"When you look at the students who actually receive this benefit, the majority of them actually are U.S. citizens."

For example, last school year, the 407 "potentially" undocumented immigrants who paid in-state fees were less than one-third of the 1,339 students who received the exemption.

But Aaron Dallek, a UC Berkeley senior from Chicago who is one of the named plaintiffs in the case, called the policy unfair. "I would understand if the university needed out-of-state tuition to fund education, but I don't feel it's right that illegal immigrants have more rights in the state of California than I do," said the 21-year-old business major.

Hey American Citizens. Guess who you don't see here. Well, you guess it. You don't see the ACLU involved. Why do you ask? Well, because they are Law abiding Citizens that are being discriminated against. I hope these Kids win so much Money that they can afford to buy California.