OPINION: Trump is correct to use this important tool from a 1996 law to ensure out-of-state American college students are not treated worse than illegal immigrants
The Department of Justice is finally enforcing a little-known, but important, immigration law that ensures Americans are not treated worse than illegal immigrants.
For years now, I have raised the issue of a specific statute in the “Illegal Immigration Reform and Responsibility Act of 1996.”
The statute is commonsense – states should not be able to charge out-of-state American citizens a higher rate than they charge illegal immigrants who have taken up residence in state.
But for almost 30 years, through multiple Republican presidents, the law has remained unenforced, even though it would have been quite simple to enforce according to Hans von Spakovsky. “The Attorney General of the US needs to tell the head of the Civil Division to enforce the statute,” von Spakovsky, whom I first heard the idea from, previously told The Fix.
Now, the Trump administration is using it with great success – a lawsuit filed against Texas for its illegal immigrant tuition benefits ended in a quick resolution to end the practice. The DOJ recently filed a similar lawsuit against Kentucky, and cited this statute in its introduction.
The statute, 8 USC 1623, states:
Notwithstanding any other provision of law, an alien who is not lawfully present in the United States shall not be eligible on the basis of residence within a State (or a political subdivision) for any postsecondary education benefit unless a citizen or national of the United States is eligible for such a benefit (in no less an amount, duration, and scope) without regard to whether the citizen or national is such a resident.
Put another way – an illegal immigrant in Houston should not get a better tuition deal at the University of Texas-Austin than an Okie from Muskogee.
As I wrote soon after Trump’s re-election: It is a simple matter of justice. States should not be free to subsidize illegal immigrants while asking Americans from other states to pay higher tuition.
President Trump is standing up for the rule of law and common-sense. Unfortunately, blue states and even some red states are in clear violation of federal law.
But we don’t have kings in this country, which means the governors of these states need to stop undermining the rule of law and acting like they can do whatever they want.
Currently 23 states allow illegal immigrants to access in-state tuition, according to the Higher Ed Immigration Portal. It is important the DOJ goes after every single state to ensure our laws are fully enforced and American citizens are not treated like second-class citizens ahead of illegal immigrants.
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