BUZZ
State AG declares policy ‘discriminatory and unlawful,’ awaits decision from U.S. District Court
Oklahoma has agreed to stop providing in-state college tuition to illegal immigrant students after the U.S. Department of Justice sued the state this week.
State Attorney General Gentner Drummond filed a joint motion with the DOJ to abolish the Oklahoma law “that unconstitutionally gives in-state tuition to illegal immigrants,” according to a Tuesday news release from the AG’s office.
“Today marks the end of a longstanding exploitation of Oklahoma taxpayers, who for many years have subsidized colleges and universities as they provide unlawful benefits to illegal immigrants in the form of in-state tuition,” Drummond stated.
“Rewarding foreign nationals who are in our country illegally with lower tuition costs that are not made available to out-of-state American citizens is not only wrong—it is discriminatory and unlawful,” he stated.
Now the state and DOJ are awaiting a decision on the case from the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Oklahoma, according to Inside Higher Ed.
In its lawsuit, President Donald Trump’s administration contended that Oklahoma’s state law breaches the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution by granting in-state tuition benefits at colleges and universities to individuals illegally present in the U.S., while charging higher tuition rates to legal U.S. citizens from other states.
“This unequal treatment of Americans is squarely prohibited and preempted by federal law, which expressly provides that ‘an alien who is not lawfully present in the United States shall not be eligible on the basis of residence within a State … for any postsecondary education benefit unless a citizen or national of the United States is eligible for such a benefit … without regard to whether the citizen or national is such a resident,’” the lawsuit reads.
This is the first time in nearly 30 years that this 1996 law has been enforced, The College Fix previously reported.
Currently, 23 states, including Oklahoma, offer in-state tuition to illegal immigrants, according to Higher Ed Immigration Portal. And Oklahoma is not the only state Trump has targeted for this policy.
In June, a federal judge blocked a Texas law that provided in-state tuition to illegal immigrant students at public universities who met certain requirements following a DOJ lawsuit, The College Fix previously reported.
Also in June, the DOJ sued Minnesota and Kentucky for favoring illegal immigrants over American students.
Still, Hans von Spakovsky, a former DOJ attorney, and Cully Stimson, a legal expert at the Heritage Foundation, argue the Trump administration should take further action.
“While the recent lawsuits against Minnesota and Kentucky are a great start, other states are also actively violating federal law by offering in-state tuition rates to illegal aliens while not offering the same to out-of-state students,” the two Heritage Foundation experts wrote in an article published by The Daily Signal.
“The scofflaws are Arizona, California, Oregon, Washington, Utah, Nebraska, New Mexico, Kansas, Illinois, Florida, Colorado, Virginia, Connecticut, Maryland, New Jersey, and New York,” they wrote.
MORE: Pennsylvania bill would let illegal immigrants pay in-state tuition
IMAGE CAPTION AND CREDIT: AG Gentner Drummond in an interview with Fox;KOKH – FOX 25/Youtube
