Arkansas Attorney General Slaps 9-11 in the Face

In response to an opinion reported today and identified below, the following email comments was received:

I'd like to remind everyone that 7 years ago, some illegal immigrants with student visas attacked this country!:

First thing, Attorney General McDaniel: what about ILLEGAL don't you understand.

Second thing: It is about the MONEY/benefits that these student illegals get that should be going to deserving American students. Like daycare, WIC, foodstamps, health care, subsidized housing.

Third thing: Our taxes increase and tuition increases to the point that we can't send our own children to college.

"Name Withheld," Little Rock, AR

by John Lyon, Arkansas News Bureau, Arkansas colleges can admit illegal immigrants, Sep 11, 2008.

LITTLE ROCK - Public colleges and universities in Arkansas can admit illegal immigrants and are not required to verify the citizenship of prospective students, state Attorney General Dustin McDaniel said in an opinion Wednesday.

McDaniel said there does not appear to be any federal or state law barring higher education institutions from admitting undocumented immigrants, although he said institutions are free to adopt their own policies requiring verification of prospective students' citizenship.

"It is my opinion in response to your specific questions, that undocumented individuals may enroll in Arkansas' public colleges and universities and that such schools are not obliged to verify citizenship as a condition of enrollment," McDaniel said in the opinion requested by state Rep. Rick Green, R-Van Buren.

Federal and state laws leave it up to individual institutions to decide whether to admit undocumented immigrants, McDaniel said.

In May, Gov. Mike Beebe directed the state Department of Higher Education to send a letter to state colleges and universities instructing them to add questions of residency and U.S. citizenship on admission forms and to require a Social Security number or visa number.

Beebe spokesman Matt DeCample said Wednesday the opinion by McDaniel does not conflict with Beebe's instructions to higher education officials. "Our primary concern all along has been in-state benefits and making sure those are not going to undocumented aliens," DeCample said. "That is not specifically discussed in this opinion."

Beebe has said that providing in-state tuition to illegal immigrants but denying it to out-of-state students who are U.S. citizens could violate the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment. DeCample said state colleges and universities were instructed to comply with federal law, "and there is nothing in this opinion that would change that."

Department of Higher Education spokesman Dale Ellis said Wednesday the department has never told colleges or universities they could not admit students who have no proof of citizenship. "If you give an in-state benefit to a person who is not a citizen or a legal resident of the United States, then that institution has to give that same benefit to any citizen of the United States," Ellis said. "That's what that was about. That was not ever any kind of effort to keep illegal aliens out of school."

Asked if requiring prospective students to provide a Social Security number or visa number has the practical effect of keeping out illegal immigrants, Ellis said it does not. The requirement merely allows schools to determine who is and is not legible for in-state tuition, he said.

"Nobody's going to get kicked out of school," he said. Ellis said he did not know if any Arkansas schools had opted to admit illegal immigrants at out-of-state tuition rates, but he said the schools "absolutely" are free to do so.

Green said Wednesday he had not seen the opinion, but said he had no reason to disagree with McDaniel's interpretation of the law. Green said he believes state-run schools should not admit illegal immigrants, particularly at a time when funds are short for basic needs such as health care and roads, though he said that does not necessarily mean the law should be changed. "I hate to think we have to pass a law about everything, to do what I think is the right thing," he said.

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