Thread: Supreme Court may hear case on tuition breaks for illegals

Supreme Court may hear case on tuition breaks for illegal immigrants

By David G. Savage, Washington Bureau
May 21, 2011

Reporting from Washington— California's policy of granting lower, in-state college tuition to illegal immigrants who graduate from its high schools is facing a challenge in U.S. Supreme Court from those who say it violates federal immigration law.

At issue is a little-known provision in a 1996 law that bars states from giving "any postsecondary benefit" to an "alien who is not lawfully present in the United States … on the basis of residence within a state."

Last year, in the first ruling of its kind, the California Supreme Court upheld the state's policy and said it did not conflict with federal law.

The justices in Washington may announce as soon as Monday whether they will hear the challenge or dismiss it. They may turn it away because there is no dispute among the lower courts. It is also possible the high court could ask the Obama administration for its view before deciding.

If the Supreme Court were to hear the case and overrule California, the decision would affect 11 other states, including New York, Texas, and, most recently, Maryland, which have opted to give in-state tuition to students who are illegal immigrants.

Twelve other states have explicitly refused to grant in-state tuition to illegal immigrants. For its part, the federal government — through the Clinton, George W. Bush and Obama administrations — has taken no steps to enforce the measure.

Citing this confusion, the Washington-based Immigration Reform Law Institute appealed the California case to the Supreme Court. Kris W. Kobach, a Kansas lawyer for the institute who led efforts in Arizona and elsewhere to tighten laws against illegal immigrants, estimated that California "spends in excess of $208 million a year subsidizing the tuition of illegal immigrants."

The federal law forbids giving "preferential treatment" to illegal immigrants "on the basis of residence" within their state. The California law, by contrast, says students may qualify for in-state tuition based on "high school attendance in California for three or more years and graduation from a California high school."

The state's lawyers argue that because the benefit turns on high school attendance, not residence, it does not violate federal law. Kobach called that a "semantic game."

The state says more than 41,000 students — less than 1% of total enrollment in its colleges and universities — qualify for lower tuition thanks to the exemption. The large majority attend community colleges, and many beneficiaries are U.S. citizens from other states. In 2009, the 10-campus UC system said 2,019 students paid in-state tuition under the terms of the state law. Of these, about 600 were believed to be illegal immigrants.

Besides California, the states that offer lower tuition for illegal immigrants are Illinois, Kansas, Maryland, Nebraska, New Mexico, New York, Oklahoma, Texas, Utah, Washington and Wisconsin.

david.savage@latimes.com

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld ... 5689.story

Thank god someone is seeing the Obozo administration as a treasonist institution!

U.S. Code Title 8 Section 14 SUBCHAPTER II § 1623

§ 1623. Limitation on eligibility for preferential treatment of aliens not lawfully present on basis of residence for higher education benefits

(a) In general
Notwithstanding any other provision of law, an alien who is not lawfully present in the United States shall not be eligible on the basis of residence within a State (or a political subdivision) for any postsecondary education benefit unless a citizen or national of the United States is eligible for such a benefit (in no less an amount, duration, and scope) without regard to whether the citizen or national is such a resident.

(b) Effective date
This section shall apply to benefits provided on or after July 1, 1998.


http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/8/1623.html

If a state gives in-state tuition to illegals they must give the same rate to all citizens, no matter what state they are from. Just think of the money lost to the states because they want to be generous with OUR money. Citizens have to demand the in-state rate and be aggressive about it, because the colleges will hem and haw about it.

Duplicate article original here:
http://www.alipac.us/ftopict-238642.html

Originally Posted by stevetheroofer

Duplicate article original here:
http://www.alipac.us/ftopict-238642.html

Thank you for bringing this to our attention steve, but since there were no comments to my post I've deleted it.

Originally Posted by jean

Thank you for bringing this to our attention steve, but since there were no comments to my post I've deleted it.

"I guess I should've posted duplicate article on your post, then it would've had a comment!" Thanks jean for being here!

Originally Posted by stevetheroofer

Originally Posted by jean

Thank you for bringing this to our attention steve, but since there were no comments to my post I've deleted it.

"I guess I should've posted duplicate article on your post, then it would've had a comment!" Thanks jean for being here!

Back at you steve....thanks for being here also!