The Associated Press

ARLINGTON, VA. — Immigrant rights organizations criticized state Attorney General Jerry Kilgore's demand that Virginia colleges rid their campuses of any illegal immigrants.

In a memo last month, Kilgore warned the colleges not to enroll illegal immigrants. He also instructed them to report to federal authorities any illegal immigrants they find on campus. Critics said at a news conference Friday that Kilgore's action unfairly penalizes foreign-born children for their parents' decision to come to the United States illegally. They also said it goes beyond any federal or state law by asking educators to act as police potentially in violation of confidentiality policies.

Kilgore staff members countered by saying they are concerned that illegal immigrants could be taking seats at state schools that would otherwise go to U.S. citizens. They also said that since last year's terrorist attacks, all universities carry a greater responsibility to help the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service monitor foreign students. “This is about differentiating between those who obey the law and those who willfully break it,” said Kilgore spokesman Tim Murtaugh.

Virginia's move comes as many states are taking a dramatically different approach, not only allowing illegal immigrants to enroll in public colleges but also granting them in-state tuition. California, Texas and New York have passed laws to that effect in the last two years. Similar measures are either pending or being drafted in Maryland, North Carolina, Massachusetts, Minnesota and Utah, and Congress is considering legislation encouraging other states to follow suit.

Some lawmaker say excluding the nation's estimated 8 million illegal immigrants from benefits such as health care and higher education only 'threatens the safety and economic well-being of the communities in which they live. Since the Sept. 11,2001, terrorist attacks, that approach has been offset by a competing impulse among many state and federal authorities to curtail illegal immigration.

Among other actions, more than a dozen states have cracked down on driver's license fraud, requiring applicants to provide more extensive proof of their identity and legal residency. Immigrant rights advocates contend that such steps merely victimize otherwise law-abiding drivers and endanger the public by preventing them from getting auto insurance. On Friday, critics offered similar arguments against Kilgore's directive.

Virginia's undocumented students “are the epitome of what we consider the American dream,” said Tisha Talhuian, regional counsel for the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, which organized the news conference. “They've gone to high school here, they're hardworking and high-achieving.” In Maryland, Prince George's Community College President Ronald A. Williams has also argued that local communities have as much to gain from illegal immigrants attending college as the immigrants themselves. “They are going to need skills to become taxpayers who are not a burden on society,” he said.

However, Steven Camarota, director of research at the Center for Immigration Studies, said expanding college benefits to illegal immigrants encourages more people to come to the United States illegally “It conveys to the world the message that America just isn't serious about its immigration laws,” he said. “It's also a slap in the face to the people who play by the rules by waiting for their turn to immigrate in their home countries.” Immigrant rights advocates estimate that 50,000 illegal immigrants graduate from U.S. high schools, schools every year. It is unclear how many go on to college.

Va. Colleges May Bar Illegal Immigrants

Judge's Ruling Is Said to Be U.S. First

By Jerry Markon

Washington Post Staff Writer

Thursday, February 26, 2004; Page B01

A federal judge in Alexandria ruled yesterday that Virginia's colleges and universities may deny admission to illegal immigrants -- a ruling that experts said was the first of its kind in the nation.

The decision by U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis III came in a lawsuit filed against seven Virginia schools accused of violating the rights of the immigrants by refusing them entry.

"It is clear that denying illegal aliens admission to public colleges and universities simply removes another public incentive for illegal immigration," Ellis wrote. He stopped short of dismissing the case, however, ruling that it could proceed to trial because the plaintiffs have a right to try to prove whether the schools are using federal standards to identify applicants who are in the country illegally.

Virginia Attorney General Jerry W. Kilgore (R), who is defending the schools, said he was pleased by the ruling. Kilgore's 2002 memo to Virginia's public colleges and universities, which urged them to reject illegal immigrants, was one impetus for the lawsuit, Ellis wrote. The suit was filed in September in U.S. District Court in Alexandria.

"Legal immigration has made this country what it is," Kilgore said in a statement. "I continue to believe that it is not too much to ask that people obey the laws of our society before they take advantage of what our society has to offer."

Tisha Tallman, an attorney for the plaintiffs, who include a high school senior who is an illegal immigrant, said she is "delighted" the case is allowed to continue. "We are reviewing the judge's decision," she said, ". . . and will then make a determination on what next steps we will be taking."

The lawsuit names the University of Virginia, Northern Virginia Community College, Virginia Tech, the College of William and Mary, Virginia Commonwealth University, George Mason University and James Madison University as defendants.

The issue of granting access to higher education for illegal immigrants has become increasingly controversial in recent years. The Virginia House of Delegates this month passed a bill that would prohibit admission of illegal immigrants by public colleges and universities. The measure, which lawyers said also is the only one of its kind in the nation, is pending in the Senate.

The Virginia bill and Ellis's ruling run counter to a recent national trend in which seven states have allowed illegal immigrants to pay in-state tuition rates at public colleges, said Josh Bernstein, director of federal policy for the National Immigration Law Center. Maryland passed such a bill last year, but it was vetoed by Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. (R).

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1982 that illegal immigrants are entitled to a primary and secondary education, but it has been silent on higher education. In 1998, a federal judge in California struck down the state's Proposition 187 ballot initiative limiting services to immigrants, including access to higher education. Lawyers said that is the only other time a federal judge has considered the issue before Ellis's ruling yesterday.

One of the schools that was sued in the Alexandria case, Northern Virginia Community College, allows admission of illegal immigrants but does not let them pay in-state tuition, said Everett Vann Eberhardt, the school's director of legal affairs. "Why we were part of that lawsuit, I'm not sure I understand," he said. Staff writer Amy Argetsinger contributed to this report.

© 2004 The Washington Post Company

RICHMOND – Attorney General Jerry Kilgore and 7^th District Congressman Eric Cantor today urged Governor Mark Warner to sign into law two sets of bills passed by the General Assembly that address illegal immigrants. One set of legislation blocks illegal aliens from obtaining driver’s licenses, while the other clarifies in the Code of Virginia that illegal immigrants are ineligible for in-state tuition rates at public colleges and universities. Cantor has sponsored similar driver’s license legislation in Congress.

"These are two common sense pieces of legislation," Kilgore said. "The General Assembly has spoken overwhelmingly. Governor Warner should sign these bills into law."

The first bill, sponsored by Sen. Jay O’Brien (Fairfax) and Del. Dave Albo (Springfield), prohibits illegal immigrants from obtaining driver’s licenses or official Virginia identification cards. It also ties the expiration dates of driver’s licenses held by legal immigrants to the expiration dates of the immigration documents they possess. The conference committee report on O’Brien’s bill, SB 1058, passed the Senate by a vote of 35-to-5 and the House by a vote of 82-to15. Albo’s bill, HB 1954, was approved by the Senate by 30-to-8 vote and by the House in an 82-to-16 vote.

"It makes no sense to validate illegal behavior by providing this essential form of identification without restriction. A driver’s license is a passport to all sorts of places and behaviors – including, of course, boarding an airplane," Kilgore said, noting that seven of the nineteen September 11^th hijackers held fraudulently-obtained Virginia driver’s licenses. "While the General Assembly has already closed a loophole in the law that allowed these men to receive this identification, there is still more work to be done."

The other legislation makes it clear in the Code of Virginia that illegal immigrants are ineligible for in-state tuition rates at public colleges and universities. The average in-state student at a Virginia school is subsidized by the taxpayers an average of over $6,000 per year. While recognizing that immigration is a federal issue, the Attorney General has advised school administrators that they should not, as a matter of policy, admit illegal aliens in the first place. If schools choose to admit illegal immigrants, however, the Attorney General has advised them that the students are ineligible for in-state tuition. While Virginia law states that illegal aliens are unable to establish legal residency, Kilgore felt a clarification was necessary. Del. Thelma Drake (Norfolk) sponsored HB 2339, which passed the House 88-to-10 and the Senate 27-to-13.

"When you consider that out-of-state military personnel and their families stationed in Virginia cannot receive in-state tuition, it seems even more ridiculous to even have the discussion about providing these subsidies to illegal aliens," Kilgore said. "Also, to suggest that we should look the other way for certain illegal aliens is an insult to the many millions of people who have gone through the process and done the right thing."

"This does not need study. If we come back one year from now, the issues will still be the same," Kilgore said. "Governor Warner should sign these bills."

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