Court to rule on tuition break for illegals

[DEDixon 39]

The issue of benefits for illegal immigrants landed at the state Supreme Court on Tuesday, as out-of-state students challenged a law allowing anyone who has graduated from a California high school to pay in-state tuition at a public university, regardless of immigration status.

The 2002 law, intended to encourage youngsters to attend college, enables undocumented students to pay the same lower fees as other state residents - at the University of California, $11,300 instead of $34,000 a year.

A lawyer for 42 non-Californians who pay the higher fees at UC, state university and community college campuses argued that the statute is discriminatory and violates federal immigration law.

"One of the privileges of U.S. citizenship is not being treated worse than an illegal alien," attorney Kris Kobach told the court at a hearing in Fresno.

He said California is flouting a 1998 federal law that prohibits states from providing benefits to illegal immigrants on the basis of their residence, unless a state makes the same benefits available to U.S. citizens who live in other states.

But Justice Kathryn Mickle Werdegar said the California law is not based on residence and instead reduces tuition for all students who went to high school in the state, no matter where they live when they apply to a public college. And Justice Ming Chin cited UC reports that more than 70 percent of the students paying lower fees because of the law are U.S. citizens or legal residents, not illegal immigrants.

That's not enough, Kobach argued, because Congress intended to make all U.S. citizens eligible for at least the same benefits that illegal immigrants receive. Justice Carol Corrigan questioned, however, whether federal lawmakers meant to "usurp how each state should decide to spend its education budget in terms of out-of-state tuition."

The case represents the court's first look at the controversy over immigration laws and California's authority to make its own rules.

Kobach, a law professor at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, was the chief drafter of the Arizona law requiring police to check the legal status of anyone they stop and reasonably suspect of being undocumented. A federal appeals court in San Francisco will hear arguments Nov. 2 in Arizona's appeal of a judge's ruling that found the law conflicted with federal regulation of immigration.

The topic also arose during Saturday's debate between the candidates for governor, in which Democrat Jerry Brown endorsed, and Republican Meg Whitman opposed, a bill that would allow state financial aid for illegal immigrants attending public colleges. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed the measure last week, citing its cost.

Lawyers said nine other states have laws like the 2002 California statute allowing resident illegal immigrants to pay in-state tuition.

The state law "has enabled thousands of talented high school students ... to get an affordable education," Ethan Schulman, lawyer for the UC regents, told the court.

Deputy Attorney General Julie Weng-Gutierrez, representing the state's community colleges, said the Legislature recognized that "extending higher education benefits to undocumented immigrants may be a means to creating self-reliance." She said Congress has left those decisions up to the states as long as they comply with federal restrictions.

But Kobach said the tuition reduction "creates an incentive for continued unlawful presence."

The suit, filed in 2005, seeks to overturn the state law and require illegal immigrants to pay out-of-state tuition. If the court agrees, Kobach said, his clients will also ask a judge to order the state to reimburse the higher fees they paid.

A ruling is due within 90 days.

The case is Martinez vs. Regents, S167791.

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/10/05/BAKA1FONOE.DTL

[Ban Hammer 12,861]

And Justice Ming Chin cited UC reports that more than 70 percent of the students paying lower fees because of the law are U.S. citizens or legal residents, not illegal immigrants.

maybe my math is off, but that still leaves just under 30%

[spookyturtle 9,465]

Why don't they just sneak into college without paying?

[Heracles 417]

There is plenty of money to go around, it's not as if the country is in the worst recession since the great depression.