In-state tuition repeal unlikely

LINCOLN — Nebraska’s controversial in-state tuition law appears likely to stay around for at least one more year.

Members of the Legislature’s Education Committee said Monday that it would be difficult to find the five votes needed to advance the repeal bill from the committee to the full Legislature.

“Just from the questions of committee members, I would say it’s got a tough row to hoe,” said State Sen. Greg Adams of York.

Legislative Bill 1001, introduced by Sen. Charlie Janssen of Fremont, would repeal a state law that lets some Nebraska high school graduates — young people in the country illegally — pay in-state tuition at the state’s public colleges and universities.

The law applies to students who graduate from Nebraska high schools after attending for at least three years. The students must pledge to seek citizenship at their first opportunity.

The law was passed over Gov. Dave Heineman’s veto in 2006 and has since become a divisive issue in several campaigns.

Only 38 students currently are using the law to attend college in Nebraska, according to legislative staffers.

Former State Sen. DiAnna Schimek, who pushed for the law, said repealing it would be devastating for youngsters brought here by their parents, who often have known no other home.

Youngsters like Joey, whose testimony a fellow student read to the committee:

Joey was born in Mexico and brought to Nebraska at age 6, has lived in the state for 13 years and graduated from a Nebraska high school.

Now the 19-year-old is in college and working to make ends meet. Having to pay international student rates would put college out of reach.

“If the law changes,” Joey said, “my chances of being a college graduate and a positive member of my community will be shattered.”

But repeal supporters said the Nebraska statute encourages illegal behavior and violates federal law.

Kris Kobach, a professor of law at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, said federal law prohibits illegal immigrants from getting postsecondary education benefits beyond those extended to American citizens.

Kobach is the attorney for a group of taxpayers who last week filed a lawsuit challenging Nebraska’s in-state tuition law.

Others said the interpretation of the federal law is in dispute.

Norm Pflanz of the Nebraska Appleseed Center for Law in the Public Interest said that Nebraska is among 10 states with similar laws and that no such law has been challenged by the U.S. government.

Garrett Roe, an attorney at the Immigration Reform Law Institute, argued that the law does a disservice to students because they will be unable to get jobs once they graduate.

He said there is virtually no path for such illegal immigrants to legalize their status.

“The only thing the illegal alien has is a college degree,” Roe said.

Still, two witnesses told the committee that they had changed their immigration status.

The week before she applied for college, Maria Hernandez said, she became a legal resident through her father’s marriage to an American citizen.

After leaving her abusive husband, an American citizen, Maria Flores gained legal residency through a law for victims of domestic violence, she said. She has since finished her college degree and works as a bank teller.

Contact the writer:

402-473-9583, martha.stoddard@owh.com

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