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Kansas Liberty: 19 September 2008
Kobach: Precedent may help overturn law giving illegal immigrants special tuition breaks.
California decision may impact Kansas law
The recent California Court of Appeals decision declaring a tuition-break for undocumented immigrants a violation of federal law could cause repercussions for other illegal immigrant benefits.
According to Kris Kobach, lead counsel for the Immigrant Reform Law Institute, the group that argued against the breaks, the 84-page opinion included strong language declaring the in-state tuition in violation of the Welfare Reform Act of 1996. The precedent set in this case, he said, could provide a foundation for overturning other benefit-giving laws.
"Because the Welfare Reform Act prohibits giving benefits to illegal immigrants, [the decision] has an application in any state in America where benefits are given to illegal aliens," Kobach said.
Kobach said Kansas' own law allowing illegal immigrants to receive in-state rather than out-of-state tuition could be in danger of being overturned. Kobach has unsuccessfully challenged the law in court before.
"This decision has huge implications for Kansas, as the Kansas law is an almost identical copy of the California law," he told Kansas Liberty. "The California Court of Appeals ruled unanimously that it is in direct violation of federal law and this is worded in very strong terms."
Kobach, a law professor at UMKC and chair of the Kansas Republican Party, has been working to have tuition-break laws repealed for four years. He said he wasn't sure if he would be interested in challenging the Kansas law again, but that he wouldn't be surprised if another lawyer decided to pick up the case now that the precedent has been set.
"After working in the justice department and federal enforcement it became clear to me that the only way we will solve the problem with illegal immigration is if states don't undermine the federal government," he said.
In Kansas and California, "that is exactly what they were doing. The legislators were thumbing their noses at the federal government and saying we want to give these benefits even if the federal law says we can't," he said. "That defiance is something that undermined our whole system."
- Holly Smith
Administrators, not teachers, reap rewards of increased school spending
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