PHOENIX — Efforts to allow some immigrants without legal status to pay lower tuition rates have pitted Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne against higher education leaders and raised questions about whether the state’s refusal to grant public benefits to young immigrants granted deferred deportation by the Obama administration Obama administration -Search using:News, Most Recent 60 DaysBiographies Plus Newsis legal.
Officials from the Maricopa County Community College District said Wednesday that a judge should review Arizona’s law to avoid conflicting interpretations. Horne has threatened to sue the district over its recent policy allowing young immigrants participating in the Obama administration Obama administration -Search using:News, Most Recent 60 DaysBiographies Plus Newsprogram to pay in-state tuition rates.
“We believe that MCCCD’s policy continues to comply with state and federal law. Nonetheless, we agree that there is uncertainty about the state statutes,” school officials wrote in a letter to Horne on Wednesday.
Under state law, immigrants without lawful status do not qualify for public benefits, including in-state tuition rates. But the law doesn’t define what constitutes a legal resident. It does, however, list a work visa as sufficient evidence of legal status. Young people in the program are eligible for work visas, but Gov. Jan Brewer has said they are not lawful residents under state law.
The state’s dismissal of the federal deferred action program is already up for legal review. Lawyers demanding driver’s licenses for youths in the program have raised similar challenges to the state’s policy.
For now, neither side is backing down.
The Maricopa college district’s executive board decided Tuesday to uphold its in-state tuition policy despite Horne’s warnings. Meanwhile, a spokeswoman for Horne said Wednesday that he has not made a decision to legally challenge the district’s policy at this time, but could take action as soon as Thursday.
