ATLANTA — A judge says the Georgia university system must allow immigrants to pay in-state tuition if they’ve been granted temporary permission by the federal government to stay in the U.S.
Georgia’s state colleges and universities require verification of “lawful presence” in the U.S. for in-state tuition. The Board of Regents had said students with temporary permission to stay under a 2012 program known as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, didn’t meet that requirement.
A lawyer for 10 young immigrants who meet all the other requirements and who have been granted deferred action status argued in a petition filed in April that the federal Department of Homeland Security has said people who have qualified for the program are “lawfully present.”
Lawyers for the university system rejected that argument, saying the statement about lawful presence appeared in an FAQ section of the department’s website and not as an official policy or regulation.
In an order dated Friday, Fulton County Superior Court Chief Judge Gail Tusan said that while an official policy would be helpful, the fact that it is part of the department’s official website means it should be taken as an accurate statement of the federal government’s position.
The judge found, therefore, that the Regents have refused to accept the “federally established lawful presence” of the students who filed the petition and many others who find themselves in a similar situation.
“Such refusal of a faithful performance of their duties is unreasonable and creates a defect of legal justice that has already negatively impacted thousands of Georgia students,” she wrote.
