Illegals Can Get In-State Tuition: Supreme Court

Supreme Court rules that California policy can stay
By Evann Gastaldo,  Newser Staff
Posted Jun 6, 2011 5:47 PM CDT
In-State Tuition for Illegal Immigrants OK: High Court
Students take part in a mock graduation ceremony promoting a bill that would allow illegal immigrants to pay in-state tuition to attend Oregon universities at the state Capitol on May 11, 2011.   (AP Photo/Jonathan J. Cooper)

The Supreme Court ruled today that California's policy of granting in-state college tuition to illegal immigrants can remain, thus leaving intact similar laws in 11 other states. Lawyers for a conservative immigration-law group challenged the policy, arguing that California was violating federal immigration law by giving "preferential treatment" to illegal immigrants, but the high court found that the tuition benefit was actually dependent on the student's graduation from high school, not residency. Any qualified graduate who attended a California high school for three years would receive the same reduced tuition, the Los Angeles Times notes.

In a separate case today, the Supreme Court ordered a federal appeals court to reexamine an illegal immigration suit in Hazleton, Pa., where the city attempted to pass laws against employing or renting to illegal immigrants. An appeals court blocked the measures because they clashed with federal immigration statutes, but the Supreme Court vacated that ruling in light of its decision last month to uphold a similar law in Arizona, the Christian Science Monitor reports. (More US Supreme Court stories.)

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