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Illegal immigrants who claimed ‘residency’ in Nebraska will no longer be treated better than Iowans or North Dakotans
Nebraska public universities will no longer discriminate against out-of-state American students in favor of illegal immigrants under a consent decree with the Department of Justice.
The Cornhusker State reached a deal with the DOJ on Tuesday to ends its preferential treatment which allowed illegal immigrants with “residency” in the state to pay the same rate as Nebraskans. American citizens from say, Iowa or North Dakota, had to pay the higher tuition rate.
Nebraskans can qualify for in-state tuition, even if they are here illegally, if they can prove they have lived in the state for 180 days and intend to stay there, the federal complaint states. There are other ways to prove residency, such as marrying an American citizen who lives in Nebraska.
Such a policy violates federal law, which forbids states from offering better tuition rates to illegal immigrants than it does to American citizens. The policy went unenforced for nearly 30 years, including under the first Trump administration, as The College Fix previously reported.
“The proposed consent decree, which must still be approved by the court, would resolve the department’s claims that Nebraska’s laws unconstitutionally discriminate against American citizens in favor of undocumented immigrants,” KOLN reported.
Both the DOJ and Republican Governor Jim Pillen released a statement on the new deal.
Gov. Pillen stated:
Nebraskans expect that illegal aliens won’t get the benefit of in-state tuition and financial aid, and federal law forbids it. Outdated Nebraska laws to the contrary are deeply misguided and unconstitutional, and I am grateful for the combined efforts of President Trump’s Department of Justice and Attorney General Hilgers to deliver this long-overdue correction. This is the latest example of the tremendous partnership between the State of Nebraska and the Trump Administration.
The deal “demonstrates the quality of partnership between Nebraska state leaders and the Department of Justice for the shared purpose of ensuring that federal tax dollars are not used to discriminate against Nebraska’s lawful citizens,” Nebraska U.S. Attorney Lesley Woods stated.
The lawsuit is one of a handful of legal actions the Trump administration has taken to enforce a particular section of the “Illegal Immigration Reform and Responsibility Act of 1996.”
The statute says:
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.
Texas reached a similar deal with the Trump administration to ends its preferential treatment of illegal immigrants, as The Fix previously reported. Oklahoma followed suit last summer as well.
However, blue states, including Minnesota, have fought back against the lawsuits.
A federal judge in Minnesota tossed that challenge, arguing that the in-state tuition applies to anyone who spent three years in the state prior to entering college. Therefore, she ruled, it did not necessarily violate the 1996 law.
MORE: Pasadena City College seeks ‘undocumented student success specialist’
