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Politics : Liberalism: Do You Agree We've Had Enough of It? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Geoff Altman who wrote (36776)	7/28/2008 9:26:22 PM
From: Ann Corrigan	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 224729

Ken probably supports in state tuition subsidies for illegals, even though US citizens are required to pay a much higher tuition. 60,000 US students are so outraged that non-citizens pay about $6,000 while they must pay $23,000 at the Univ of CA. They're suing the state..it's about time..and should become common practice anywhere the same outrage is imposed on US citizens: Students Sue California Over Illegal In-State Tuition Policy Class Action Suit Could Benefit 60,000 American Students A $3.5 billion class action lawsuit was filed in Yolo County, California, on December 14 against the three governing entities that run the state’s public universities and colleges. The suit charges that policies enacted in 2001, granting in-state tuition benefits to illegal aliens attending public institutions of higher education, while denying those same benefits to out-of-state U.S. citizens, are both unlawful and unconstitutional. The case was filed by attorney Michael J. Brady of the Redwood City law firm of Ropers, Majeski, Kohn & Bentley and co-counsel Kris Kobach, a professor of law at the University of Missouri Law School in Kansas City. Prof. Kobach, a former high-ranking official of the U.S. Department of Justice, is also the lead attorney in a case challenging similar in-state tuition policies in Kansas. FAIR’s Legal Department is involved in both the California and Kansas cases and FAIR’s Media Department helped generate national and international media coverage of the filing of the suit, and a press conference on the steps of the State Capitol in Sacramento. Under legislation approved by the California legislature in 2001 and signed by former Governor Gray Davis, illegal aliens who have attended a high school in the state for at least three years are eligible to receive taxpayer subsidized in-state tuition at California State universities and community colleges. The University of California Board of Regents administratively extended the same benefits to illegal aliens attending the top tier University of California campuses. Out-of-state students at the ten University of California schools pay an average of $24,589 per year, while the average in-state tuition cost is $6,769 per year. A 1996 federal law, 8 U.S.C § 1623, explicitly states that no state may grant resident status to an illegal alien living in that state and attending a public college or university unless the state grants the same benefit to all out-of-state students attending those public colleges or universities. The plaintiffs also contend that the California policy also violates the equal protection clause of the U.S. constitution. An estimated 60,000 U.S. citizen students, on more than 150 campuses around the state are being forced to pay higher tuition rates than those afforded to illegal aliens under California’s illegal policy. The suit seeks to force the state to reimburse these U.S. citizen students for the additional tuition they were forced to pay in violation of federal law. That amount is estimated to run into the hundreds of millions of dollars. The State of California instituted its policy of granting in-state tuition benefits, while denying those same benefits to non-resident U.S. citizens, with the clear knowledge that the policy violated federal law. When then-Governor Davis vetoed an earlier version of the in-state tuition bill in 2000, he asserted that he believed the policy was illegal. Moreover, before administratively adopting the policy for the U.C. schools, the Board of Regents asked the legislature to grant them immunity from prosecution — a clear indication they, too, believed the policy was unlawful. In 2000 and 2001, FAIR was at the forefront of the opposition to AB 540, the bill that instituted California’s in-state tuition for illegal aliens policy. FAIR warned that, in addition to providing unwarranted rewards to people who violated U.S. immigration laws, the policy itself could open the state to precisely the type of suit that it is now facing. FAIR, working closely with Prof. Kobach, helped draft the suit challenging Kansas’ in-state tuition policy. That case was dismissed on a legal technicality and is currently under appeal before the federal Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver. The challenge to California’s in-state tuition policy is the latest and most highly publicized effort to use the legal system to force state and local governments to comply with U.S. immigration laws. FAIR has been encouraging these efforts and has lent support to local efforts to ensure that the rights and interests of law-abiding citizens are not trampled by activist politicians. Challenging policies that violate federal immigration laws has become an increasingly important part of FAIR’s efforts to promote true comprehensive immigration reform. fairus.org