Posted on 10/22/2011 1:37:25 AM PDT by Watchdog85
In a case that could set a national precedent, Florida anchor babies are suing public education officials for making them pay the higher college tuition rate charged to out-of-state students because their parents are in the U.S. illegally.
Born in the United States to illegal aliens, the students were required to prove that their parents are in the country legally in order to pay the discounted tuition fee offered to Florida residents at public colleges and universities. Most states offer the same perk, which saves residents a big chunk of change at taxpayer-funded schools.
That’s why controversy has erupted recently over states, many of them cash-strapped, that grant the public benefit to illegal immigrants. This case is different, however, because the plaintiffs were actually born in the U.S. Florida has long required students to provide evidence of their parents’ citizenship to get discounted college tuition, even when the kids graduated from a local high school.
The policy is discriminatory and a clear violation of the equal-protection clause of the U.S. Constitution, according to a complaint filed in federal court this week by five students who were charged higher out-of-state tuition. "Many talented American students must either forgo higher education or incur extraordinary costs, in both money and time, in order to obtain the same education made available to other Florida residents at a small fraction of the cost," the suit says.
A nonprofit civil rights organization dedicated to fighting hate and bigotry filed the complaint in Miami on behalf of the students. It’s part of a broader effort to “reform school policies that unnecessarily push students out of school or otherwise limit their opportunities for a successful future.” In this case the higher tuition puts a college education out of reach for these particular Hispanic students.
"In short, United States citizen students who reside in Florida but whose parents are undocumented immigrants are charged three to four times as much as other Florida residents for the same education at Florida's public colleges and universities," the complaint states. It further points out that the difference is staggering to the tunes of thousands of dollars.
The defendants named in the lawsuit are Florida’s Commissioner of Education (Gerard Robinson) and the chancellor of the state’s university system, Frank Brogan.
No more breaks for illegals.
Rick Perry gave the discount rate to illegal children of illegals, much less anchor babies.
The students in question and U.S. citizens and the State of Florida will lose this case.
The students in question are U.S. citizens and the State of Florida will lose this case.
These students aren’t illegals. They were born here and are US citizens - and have lived in Florida all their lives (and paid local taxes there, as well as Federal income taxes, SS, etc.). The State of Florida is going to lose this one, because we’ve never had a situation where children can be punished for something their parents did or did not do.
Exactly.
This will be an easy one for any court as all one needs to do is to read the Constitution.
“Rick Perry gave the discount rate to illegal children”
I don’t want to be overly contentious, but the fact is that the bill granting the discount passed with OVERWHELMING majorities in the Tx legislature.
So, unlike the Gardisil thing, this isn’t something Rick Perry did, it was something the people of Tx (through their elected reps) did.
Right or wrong (and for me I’d say wrong) it was their choice, not a fiat by Perry.
I don’t understand why Perry hasn’t said this at any debate.
But, then again, trying to understand Perry’s behaviour at the debates would require me to become a psychiatrist, or something.
“The State of Florida is going to lose this one, because we’ve never had a situation where children can be punished for something their parents did or did not do.”
As long as the students are dependents of the parents they do. If they use the dependency as a means to get health insurance under their parents policy . . .
The students are citizens. And this has nothing to do with health insurance, which in any case their parents would have had to pay for and therefore there’d be no reason they shouldn’t be covered by it.
Ditto. Florida is discriminating against US citizens.
Would you like to keep on the point of my argument?
Please?
Or do you not care about the rules of the in-state tuition in this state, or any other?
Did those rules in this case not state that the parents had to provide proof of citizenship?
If we can agree that is a fact, then dependency is the key component of this argument.
Then if you really want to get into the details on a broader scale, then lets go back to the original intent and focus (key word here) of the 14th amendment. This one is real easy, no reading required, just listen.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-EX37aeoyr4
“...we’ve never had a situation where children can be punished for something their parents did or did not do.”
In high school, I had a scholarship to any accredited NY state college. I graduated in June of ‘66. My dad accepted a job in Ohio in August of ‘66. Because my parents’ legal address was no longer in NY, I lost the scholarship; it was for residents only. (We didn’t know that when he changed jobs.) I know it’s not a U.S. “thing”, but children can be punished for something their parents did or did not do.
if one reads the Constitution correctly, as opposed to the way the libtards have misinterpreted it, they are not citizens. the only children protected under the correct interpretation of the XIV ammendment were the children of slaves.
The young illegals going to college are obviously at least trying to improve their lives. These are not the types of illegals associated with drug dealing, robbery, murder and other crimes. It’s a lot cheaper to send them to college than keep them in prison. Florida universities should be looking for some baseball talent among this bunch if anything.....
There are a lot more teenage blacks in prison than college in FL. They have too many freebies and still blew it.
The point in that case is that you were presumably a minor at the time and the scholarship was for residents only. But since a minor, unless emancipated, has the same address as his or her parents, therefore your address also changed to an out of state address at the time of his move.
It was unfair in your case and some bureaucrat probably just decided to exert a little power, but it was legal, unfortunately. But that’s different from somebody who meets all the residency and citizenship requirements for a tuition break and is denied it because of something their parents did in the past. Children born in this country are automatically citizens, like it or not, and there’s no legal grounds for denying them in-state tuition if they meet the state residency requirements.
Simple solution. Give the student in-state rates, and deport both parents after fining them, and place them on a “No Immigration” list from ever being allowed to visit the U.S. again.
And follow that up by having the hospitals in Florida refuse to issue birth certificates to children born of illegal alien parents. Refer the new parents to their consulate or the U.S. Consulate to apply for birth certificates. That way the hospital can bill the country of origin for the costs of delivery and any pre-maternal care.
Like it or not — and I don’t like it — anchor babies are legal US citizens under our existing laws and the laws at the time of their birth. As such, they can’t be denied the legal benefits allowed by their state to all state legal residents. Their parents are illegals but they are not. Florida cannot legally deny them in-state tuition rates.
Now how about when the Republicans get the Senate, they pass a law reversing babies born on US soil are automatic citizens.
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