Lawmakers won’t consider barring in-state tuition for illegal immigrants

By Anna Jo Bratton The Associated PressSunday, Mar 01, 2009 - 01:02:42 am CST

LINCOLN -- Nebraska lawmakers this year won’t consider a measure to bar in-state tuition for some illegal immigrants.

On Friday, Sen. Charlie Janssen withdrew his amendment to a bill (LB403) meant to curb illegal immigration by checking people’s identity when they’re hired for some jobs and when they apply for state benefits.

Speaker Mike Flood had said Janssen’s amendment needed a public hearing because it made a substantial change to the original bill.

A hearing was scheduled for the amendment, which is unusual.

But other lawmakers complained that Janssen’s amendment was getting special treatment, even though Flood said the compromise didn’t break the rules and wasn’t unprecedented.

Janssen said he plans to introduce a bill next year to overturn the state’s law, aimed at helping students whose parents brought them to the United States illegally.

“I didn’t want my colleagues to feel like that this was a process that was put in place just for this bill,â€