Court Weighs KS Law Providing Education Benefits to Illegal Aliens
by Jim Brown
February 7, 2005
(AgapePress) - A judge is set to rule on whether students who are in the U.S. illegally should be allowed access to publicly-funded education benefits.The Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) filed a lawsuit last summer challenging the Kansas law that currently allows illegal alien students to qualify for in-state college tuition and financial aid. The FAIR suit claims the Kansas statute violates a 1996 federal law barring states from giving public benefits to illegal students.
FAIR spokesman Jack Martin says the case will set a major legal precedent. "This is the first lawsuit anywhere in the country that has been brought to challenge the actions of state legislatures in allowing illegal alien students to enter the universities at a taxpayer subsidy," he points out.
According to Martin, the Kansas law that provides tuition breaks to illegal alien students who have graduated from state high schools is not only unconstitutional but also a slap in the face to students who are law-abiding U.S. citizens. "The plaintiffs in this case are out-of-state students who are paying out-of-state tuition to attend universities in Kansas," he says.
In effect, the FAIR representative contends, the legal students from other states who seek to attend college in Kansas "are operating at a disadvantage when these foreign students who are illegally in the country are paying in-state tuition rates."
It makes no sense, Martin says, to allow illegal aliens to enter public universities at taxpayers' expense, where they can effectively block spaces that ought to be held by American students. A ruling is expected soon in the case that will determine whether illegal students will remain eligible to receive the state education benefits.
Jim Brown, a regular contributor to AgapePress, is a reporter for American Family Radio News, which can be heard online.
