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| | AG questions immigration scholarship bill
Friday, Mar 11, 2005 By Doug Thompson and David Robinson Arkansas News Bureau LITTLE ROCK - An attorney general's opinion Thursday said that a bill proposing to give undocumented immigrants access to Arkansas scholarships and in-state tuition appears open to a legal challenge under federal law. Attorney General Mike Beebe, responding to a request by Sen. Jim Holt, R-Springdale, cites a 1996 federal law. "According to a plain reading of this statute, the state cannot offer illegal aliens any postsecondary benefit 'on the basis of residence within (the) state unless a non-resident citizen is eligible for the benefit,'" the opinion states. In other words, the state apparently cannot offer any benefit to an undocumented resident that it is not willing to offer to any citizen of the United States. The opinion concludes that: "It is my opinion for the foregoing reasons that HB 1525 may be subject to challenge under federal law." Holt said Thursday: "It's what we've been saying from the beginning. This is against federal code. This is not about prejudice, but about charity beginning at home and of benefits going to our citizens first." House Bill 1525 would make the college scholarships and lower in-state tuition available to undocumented people who have attended high school in Arkansas for at least three years and graduated from an Arkansas high school. Such students also have to have been admitted at a state college or university and file an affidavit saying that they intend to legalize their immigration status. Opponents of HB 1525, including Holt, Joey McCutchen of Fort Smith and Debbie Pelley of Jonesboro have argued that the bill would violate federal law. Supporters of the bill, including Gov. Mike Huckabee, contend there is one lawsuit on the matter in Kansas that has not been decided yet. "The governor's office did extensive research before this bill was drafted," Huckabee said in a prepared statement. "It's based on laws in several other states. The court's have not struck down this law in any of those states." The measure has passed the House and was expected to win the Senate Education Committee's recommendation in the next week or so. The opinion states: "I believe a court faced with the question could conclude that this is a de facto residence requirement, particularly when it is recognized that state residency is a general prerequisite to high school attendance in Arkansas." Rep. Joyce Elliott, D-Little Rock, did not immediately return a phone call late Thursday. Before the opinion was released, however, Elliott said, "Sen. Holt has brought my bill into his dilemma," referring to Holt's efforts to pass his Senate Bill 206, which would deny state benefits to those in the state without legal resident status. |
