Out Of State Tuition Is Higher Than Illegal Alien Tuition in California

Students from 19 states yesterday filed a class-action lawsuit seeking hundreds of millions of dollars from California officials for charging them significantly more than illegal aliens pay to attend state-run colleges.

The 42 plaintiffs say California state lawmakers and the University of California board of regents knowingly violated a federal law enacted in 1996 that says any state that offers discounted in-state tuition to its illegal aliens must provide the same lower rates to all U.S. citizens.

California has a "unique" statute barring discrimination on the basis of geographic origin, said lead attorney Michael J. Brady.

Some students in the University of California system could be eligible for as much as $300,000 in total damages, he said.

The plaintiffs' attorneys say the lawsuit was filed in a state court in Yolo County on behalf of about 60,000 U.S. citizens who have paid out-of-state tuition to attend public higher-education institutions in California since 2002.

Mr. Brady said out-of-state students are paying $20,000 more than illegal aliens per year to attend schools in the University of California system. In the California state university system, the difference is $11,000 per year.

"And in the community college system in California, which has a total of 1.5 million students, the tuition differential is $6,000 a year," he said.

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Obama Flip-Flops on Investigation of Bush Administration

Under tremendous pressure from leftists politicians and other organizations, the Obama administration has changed its position on the potential investigation and prosecution of officials from the Bush administration over treatment of terrorists.

It appears that now the current administration is willing to allow, if not lead in, the investigation of the courageous men and women who tried to protect our nation and make us safer. Agree or not with the actual policies, this is a bad decision. These people did not violate any laws.

The same day, the Obama administration has taken the position that some 25 million illegal aliens are not actually here illegally. That's right. The official position is now that entering the country without documentation is not illegal. I've yet to read an explanation of this that makes any sense. Perhaps this has something to do with a relative of Obama being here illegally ... I mean, having entered the country without documentation.

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Colorado extending benefits to illegals

A proposal to grant in-state tuition to illegal immigrants passed out of a Colorado state Senate committee this week after Democrats moved up a vote on the bill to coincide with a Republican opponent's absence from the state on a family emergency.

Republican state Sen. Ted Harvey's father-in-law has Alzheimer's disease and his health began deteriorating so rapidly early this week that Mr. Harvey was forced to take a few days off to transport the ailing man from Florida to Colorado.

Even so, Mr. Harvey had planned to return to the state legislature in time for Friday's Appropriations Committee vote on Senate Bill 170, the in-state tuition bill. He had also planned to vote against it, which would have resulted in a 5-5 tie that would have killed the legislation.

Instead, the committee's Democratic chairman, state Sen. Abel Tapia, seized the opportunity and rescheduled the vote for Wednesday. Without Mr. Harvey, the bill passed 5-4 and now heads to the Senate floor.

Other Republicans on the Appropriations Committee tried to stop the early vote, but were stymied by Democrats. Mr. Tapia told Denver's Fox TV affiliate later that the vote was rescheduled so that the committee could clear its backlog of bills.

The bill's sponsor, Democratic state Sen. Chris Romer, son of former Colorado Gov. Roy Romer, argued that there was no reason to wait until Friday because the Appropriations Committee is charged only with weighing the legislation's fiscal impact.

Democrats have argued that the bill would have a positive effect on the state budget because more students would be attending state universities and thus paying tuition. Republicans counter that the state will lose money because those students would ordinarily be paying the higher out-of-state tuition rate.

Republicans were outraged, accusing the Democrats of taking advantage of Mr. Harvey's difficult personal circumstances.

Mr. Harvey's office did not immediately return a call for comment Thursday.

The bill could now come up for a vote before the full Senate as early as Thursday, although it must still win approval in the House before going before the governor.

Democrats control both chambers, and passage by the Senate appropriations committee was widely considered the biggest hurdle the bill faced.

Democratic Gov. Bill Ritter has said he will sign the bill, which would give in-state tuition to illegal immigrants who have attended a Colorado high school for at least three years. The students must also attend college within one year of graduation or earning their GED.

Nine states now have similar laws, although many are awaiting court challenges.

This story highlights one of the major problems I have with the Democraps and their party.  They don't understand that the term "Illegal alien" includes the word "illegal" and the implications of that.  There is no way that any government agency or branch should be discussing benefits to people, who by their very definition are breaking the law.  Instead, they should be debating ways to identify and deporting these people.  And WHY in the world are we spending government funds on illegal aliens in a time of economic crisis?

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