Republican Attorney General Kris Kobach on Tuesday stepped up pressure on the Kansas Legislature to eliminate in-state tuition at higher education institutions for students who don’t live in the country legally.
Kobach issued an opinion Tuesday declaring that the state’s program providing tuition for immigrant students who live in the state illegally violates federal law.
“For more than 20 years, Kansas has been violating federal law with impunity,” Kobach said in a statement.
“Now, the Trump Department of Justice is cracking down on states that have been violating that specific law banning in-state tuition for illegal aliens.
He said states have already been sued, and the federal government has already prevailed in two of them.
“Kansas legislators would do well to bring Kansas into compliance with the law rather than being sued by the federal government,” Kobach said.
Last week, the Kansas House retained the program after it was eliminated by the Senate.
The House voted 86-36 for a larger overall bill that bans immigrants living in the United States illegally from receiving most state or local benefits.
House members agreed to amend the bill on a voice vote to keep in-state tuition in the bill.
The bill has been returned to the Senate, which sent the bill to a conference committee.
State law creating the program, the opinion said, “directly conflicts with federal law because it permits illegal aliens to qualify for in-state tuition rates without providing the equivalent benefit to U.S. citizens without regard to residency.”
“Kansas has been violating this federal law ever since (the law) was enacted.”
The opinion was requested by Republican state Rep. Samantha Poetter Parshall of Paola, who worked for Kobach previously when he was secretary of state.
Last year, Kobach said the U.S. Justice Department filed lawsuits against seven states —Texas, Kentucky, Illinois, Oklahoma, Minnesota, California and Virginia—with in-state tuition policies similar to Kansas’.
The lawsuits followed President Donald’s Trump’s executive order vowing to confront state and local officials who he says use their “authority to violate, obstruct, and defy the enforcement of federal immigration laws.”
The order directs federal authorities to compile lists of “sanctuary jurisdictions” and that federal funds could be cut off if they don’t adhere to federal immigration law.
The order also requires federal officials to take “appropriate action” to stop the enforcement of state and local laws as well as practices that favor “aliens over any groups of American citizens.”
“No state can be allowed to treat Americans like second-class citizens in their own country by offering financial benefits to illegal aliens,” U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi said when the Kentucky lawsuit was filed.
A federal judge halted the 2001 Texas law signed by former Republican Gov. Rick Perry that gave college students without legal residency access to in-state tuition.
On that same day, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a joint motion along with the Trump administration to end the law for in-state tuition for immigrants not living in the country legally.
Texas was the first state to permit in-state tuition benefits to undocumented students.
