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JUDICIAL WATCH CONTINUES TO PUSH BACK LA RAZA SUPREMACY!
But not in MEXIFORNIA. CA PUTS OUT $20 BILLION IN SOCIAL SERVICES TO ILLEGALS, HAS THE WORST EDUCATION IN THE UNION, AND YET LA RAZA DEM, JERRY BROWN REPAID HIS ILLEGAL VOTERS BY VOTING FOR LA RAZA TUTION DISCOUNTS.
http://www.JUDICIALWATCH.org
*
From the Desk of Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton:
Judicial Watch Forces New Jersey School to Abandon Discounted Tuition for Illegal Aliens
In a dramatic and clear-cut victory for the rule of law, Judicial Watch forced the County College of Morris (CCM) in New Jersey to reverse an unlawful policy which allowed illegal aliens discounted tuition at the school! As expected, the decision came down last Thursday. The headline of a New Jersey Daily Record article the following day tells the whole story: “Lawsuit Worries Prompted Reversal on College Tuition for Illegal Immigrants.”
As reported by the Daily Record:
One County College of Morris trustee mentioned the prospect of being sued and paying hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal bills. Others said legal considerations played a part in their deliberations over tuition rates for illegal immigrants.
In the weeks leading up to their vote…CCM's trustees had received letters from freeholders and a national conservative group called Judicial Watch saying they were violating federal laws. Concerns about those laws, and the possibility of lawsuits, seemed to spur a 9-2 vote to charge higher, out-of-state rates to undocumented students even if they live in the county.
Indeed, as I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, Judicial Watch sent a letter to the Chairman of the Board of Trustees for CCM challenging the school’s policy of providing discounted tuition for “undocumented” aliens. CCM immediately informed Judicial Watch that it had commenced a review of its tuition policy. And one week later, the school’s trustees voted to overturn a policy they had established just two months prior.
The chair of the Board of Trustees suggested Judicial Watch had “bullied” the poor Board into reversing itself. My colleague, attorney Paul Orfanedes, answered this charge directly in the media:
‘If you think encouraging people to follow the law is bullying, then we are bullying,’ he said after being told Johnson had used the term ‘bullying’ to describe some of the reaction to CCM's February policy change.
As you can see, sometimes even the threat of a lawsuit can work wonders! This is a tremendous victory for Judicial Watch and its supporters. And we are thrilled CCM’s Board of Trustees made the right decision to bring its tuition policy in line with federal law, even if some trustees may have been reluctant (to say the least).
You may recall Judicial Watch was tipped off to CCM’s illegal policy by the February 18, 2011, edition of The New Jersey Star-Ledger:
For the first time in nearly a decade, illegal immigrants will be allowed to take classes at the County College of Morris in a policy change that is drawing praise from some education officials and sharp criticism from immigration policy activists.
The trustees at the Randolph-based college voted 7-1 earlier this week to reverse a rule barring undocumented students, school officials said. Starting this summer, the public two-year college will be one of the first schools in New Jersey to openly acknowledge it is enrolling illegal immigrants and allowing them to pay the same tuition rate as other county residents.
(Prior to the policy change CCM had barred illegal aliens from admission to the school, so this was quite a switch.)
The article piqued the interest of JW’s lawyers and investigators, who obtained a copy of the CCM admissions policy. And sure enough, it clearly stated that any illegal alien who graduated from an American high school (or possesses a GED equivalent), was under the age of 35, and had lived in the U.S. for five consecutive years, would be eligible for admission. And the policy further stipulated that illegal alien students could pay a discounted in-county tuition rate!
As Judicial Watch noted in its letter, illegal aliens are ineligible for state and local public benefits, such as discounted tuition, under federal law:
There is no way to reconcile CCM’s policy with federal law. The policy provides a public benefit to individuals who are clearly ineligible for benefits [under federal law], and New Jersey has not authorized the provision of such benefits…CCM may not ignore federal laws when those laws are not consistent with its own policy preferences. We hope that CCM will reevaluate its new policy and conform it to the requirements of federal law.
And that’s exactly what happened.
This is not our first attempt to stop institutions of higher education from giving preferential treatment to illegal aliens.
CORRUPTION CHRONICLES
• “Cowardly” To Reverse Illegal Immigrant Tuition Break
• Secret DOJ Group Monitors Immigration Control Laws
• Obama’s Green Energy Plants Create “Toxic Brew Of Pollutants”
• Homeland Sec. “Confusion” Over Immigration Program
• Public School Dist. Violates La Raza Studies Ban
• Half Of U.S. Food Imported, At Risk Of Bioterrorism
• Obama DOE: America’s Progress Depends On Latinos
We filed a taxpayer lawsuit in January against the Board of Trustees of Maryland’s Montgomery College for unlawfully allowing discounted “in-county” tuition rates for students graduating from Montgomery County public high schools, regardless of their place of residency or immigration status. (Click here for more information.) In response to our lawsuit, the Maryland Legislature bailed the school out by passing legislation authorizing the illegal alien tuition policy. The good news, however, is that this decision may now be subjected to a voter referendum.
As you can see, Judicial Watch has taken on a leadership role in the debate over taxpayer-financed in-state tuition for illegal aliens. And we will not slow down. We are currently considering action and legal challenges in other states. So stay
http://www.JUDICIALWATCH.org
*
Lawsuit worries prompted reversal on college tuition for illegal immigrants
Trustees' chairwoman says board had been bullied
4:49 PM, Apr. 21, 2011
One County College of Morris trustee mentioned the prospect of being sued and paying hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal bills. Others said legal considerations played a part in their deliberations over tuition rates for illegal immigrants.
In the weeks leading up to their vote on Wednesday night, CCM's trustees had received letters from freeholders and a national conservative group called Judicial Watch saying they were violating federal laws. Concerns about those laws, and the possibility of lawsuits, seemed to spur a 9-2 vote to charge higher, out-of-state rates to undocumented students even if they live in the county.
The vote came at the end of a meeting in front of more than 200 people that lasted almost four hours and included emotional testimony from dozens of people on both sides of the issue.
After the vote, some undocumented students who said they could not afford out of state tuition rates had tears in their eyes. The vote reversed part of a policy that the same board approved, 7-1, just two months ago.
"I'm not in favor of defending in court a vote of ours that might cost tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees," trustee Alan Gordon said during the meeting.
Elaine Johnson, chairwoman of the trustees, voted with the minority and said she believed the trustees had been bullied, although she did not specify who was doing the bullying. She said the February vote to charge in-county tuition to undocumented students, many of whom have lived in the U.S. most of their lives, seemed simple at the time.
"Then the bigotry, hatred, threats and lies came," she said. "I realize bullying is so wrong. . . . There is no law that currently exists that makes the act we took (in February) illegal."
The CCM trustees voted on Feb. 26 to allow some undocumented students into the school — as long as they lived in the U.S. at least five years and were here before they were 16. They had been barred following the 9/11 terrorist attacks. The trustees also voted to charge in-county tuition to students who live in Morris County.
That gave CCM a written policy similar to what many other county colleges are doing across the state without writing it down. A recent New Jersey Press Media survey found most county colleges, without adopting policies, check only whether students reside in their counties and not whether they are documented.
Morris County freeholders, saying they didn't want to support tuition breaks for illegal immigrants with taxpayer money, asked the CCM trustees to reconsider the lower tuition rates.
"I was pleased with the (Wednesday night) vote, and I also was pleased with the process," said Margaret Nordstom, a freeholder liaison to CCM.
Edward Yaw, president of CCM, said college attorneys in recent weeks had taken a closer look at relevant laws and court cases related to them, and that "the legal aspect" had been a driving factor for many of the trustees' apparent change of heart. Yaw had been in favor of the February policy but didn't take a position on Wednesday's amendment, other than to say it allows undocumented students to get an education. He did say laws related to tuition breaks for undocumented students are ambiguous.
"I still believe there's no law that prohibits the actions (that the board) previously took," Yaw said. "We felt all along the potential was there to be sued by one side or the other."
About one week before the vote, Judicial Watch sent a letter to Johnson saying CCM's policy adopted in February violated a 1996 federal law barring illegal immigrants from receiving "local public benefits" unless they are provided by state law. Judicial Watch has sued a Maryland school over in-county rates for undocumented students.
Paul Orfanedes, director of litigation for Judicial Watch, said his group is considering whether to continue the lawsuit now that Maryland has passed a law that, once signed, would make it the 11th state to offer in-state tuition to undocumented students. He said the letter to CCM was meant to clarify the law.
"If you think encouraging people to follow the law is bullying, then we are bullying," he said after being told Johnson had used the term "bullying" to describe some of the reaction to CCM's February policy change.
Alina Das, a professor with the New York University Law School Immigrant Rights Clinic, said the federal law does not "specifically prohibit" lower tuition rates. The NYU clinic has been giving legal direction to Wind of the Spirit, a local immigrant rights group.
Yaw said CCM might revisit the issue if additional court cases clarify related federal laws.
A related federal statute prohibits providing postsecondary benefits to illegal immigrants based on state residency if the same benefit isn’t available to legal residents. County freeholders have argued that means CCM would have been required to charge in-county rates to students from other states.
However, the California State Supreme Court recently ruled that the federal law didn’t preempt a state law allowing in-state tuition for undocumented students who graduate from California high schools. Judges said in their ruling that the state law is based on where students go to school and not on “residence,” as specified in the federal law. The case is being appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court.
CCM’s admissions policy allows admitting undocumented students only if they have graduated from New Jersey high schools. Yaw said a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in the California case might offer some guidance and be “a trigger” for additional discussions about offering in-county rates for some illegal immigrants who live in the county.
*
http://www.JUDICIALWATCH.org
JUDICIAL WATCH CONTINUES TO PUSH BACK LA RAZA SUPREMACY!
But not in MEXIFORNIA. CA PUTS OUT $20 BILLION IN SOCIAL SERVICES TO ILLEGALS, HAS THE WORST EDUCATION IN THE UNION, AND YET LA RAZA DEM, JERRY BROWN REPAID HIS ILLEGAL VOTERS BY VOTING FOR LA RAZA TUTION DISCOUNTS.
http://www.JUDICIALWATCH.org
*
From the Desk of Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton:
Judicial Watch Forces New Jersey School to Abandon Discounted Tuition for Illegal Aliens
In a dramatic and clear-cut victory for the rule of law, Judicial Watch forced the County College of Morris (CCM) in New Jersey to reverse an unlawful policy which allowed illegal aliens discounted tuition at the school! As expected, the decision came down last Thursday. The headline of a New Jersey Daily Record article the following day tells the whole story: “Lawsuit Worries Prompted Reversal on College Tuition for Illegal Immigrants.”
As reported by the Daily Record:
One County College of Morris trustee mentioned the prospect of being sued and paying hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal bills. Others said legal considerations played a part in their deliberations over tuition rates for illegal immigrants.
In the weeks leading up to their vote…CCM's trustees had received letters from freeholders and a national conservative group called Judicial Watch saying they were violating federal laws. Concerns about those laws, and the possibility of lawsuits, seemed to spur a 9-2 vote to charge higher, out-of-state rates to undocumented students even if they live in the county.
Indeed, as I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, Judicial Watch sent a letter to the Chairman of the Board of Trustees for CCM challenging the school’s policy of providing discounted tuition for “undocumented” aliens. CCM immediately informed Judicial Watch that it had commenced a review of its tuition policy. And one week later, the school’s trustees voted to overturn a policy they had established just two months prior.
The chair of the Board of Trustees suggested Judicial Watch had “bullied” the poor Board into reversing itself. My colleague, attorney Paul Orfanedes, answered this charge directly in the media:
‘If you think encouraging people to follow the law is bullying, then we are bullying,’ he said after being told Johnson had used the term ‘bullying’ to describe some of the reaction to CCM's February policy change.
As you can see, sometimes even the threat of a lawsuit can work wonders! This is a tremendous victory for Judicial Watch and its supporters. And we are thrilled CCM’s Board of Trustees made the right decision to bring its tuition policy in line with federal law, even if some trustees may have been reluctant (to say the least).
You may recall Judicial Watch was tipped off to CCM’s illegal policy by the February 18, 2011, edition of The New Jersey Star-Ledger:
For the first time in nearly a decade, illegal immigrants will be allowed to take classes at the County College of Morris in a policy change that is drawing praise from some education officials and sharp criticism from immigration policy activists.
The trustees at the Randolph-based college voted 7-1 earlier this week to reverse a rule barring undocumented students, school officials said. Starting this summer, the public two-year college will be one of the first schools in New Jersey to openly acknowledge it is enrolling illegal immigrants and allowing them to pay the same tuition rate as other county residents.
(Prior to the policy change CCM had barred illegal aliens from admission to the school, so this was quite a switch.)
The article piqued the interest of JW’s lawyers and investigators, who obtained a copy of the CCM admissions policy. And sure enough, it clearly stated that any illegal alien who graduated from an American high school (or possesses a GED equivalent), was under the age of 35, and had lived in the U.S. for five consecutive years, would be eligible for admission. And the policy further stipulated that illegal alien students could pay a discounted in-county tuition rate!
As Judicial Watch noted in its letter, illegal aliens are ineligible for state and local public benefits, such as discounted tuition, under federal law:
There is no way to reconcile CCM’s policy with federal law. The policy provides a public benefit to individuals who are clearly ineligible for benefits [under federal law], and New Jersey has not authorized the provision of such benefits…CCM may not ignore federal laws when those laws are not consistent with its own policy preferences. We hope that CCM will reevaluate its new policy and conform it to the requirements of federal law.
And that’s exactly what happened.
This is not our first attempt to stop institutions of higher education from giving preferential treatment to illegal aliens.
CORRUPTION CHRONICLES
• “Cowardly” To Reverse Illegal Immigrant Tuition Break
• Secret DOJ Group Monitors Immigration Control Laws
• Obama’s Green Energy Plants Create “Toxic Brew Of Pollutants”
• Homeland Sec. “Confusion” Over Immigration Program
• Public School Dist. Violates La Raza Studies Ban
• Half Of U.S. Food Imported, At Risk Of Bioterrorism
• Obama DOE: America’s Progress Depends On Latinos
We filed a taxpayer lawsuit in January against the Board of Trustees of Maryland’s Montgomery College for unlawfully allowing discounted “in-county” tuition rates for students graduating from Montgomery County public high schools, regardless of their place of residency or immigration status. (Click here for more information.) In response to our lawsuit, the Maryland Legislature bailed the school out by passing legislation authorizing the illegal alien tuition policy. The good news, however, is that this decision may now be subjected to a voter referendum.
As you can see, Judicial Watch has taken on a leadership role in the debate over taxpayer-financed in-state tuition for illegal aliens. And we will not slow down. We are currently considering action and legal challenges in other states. So stay
http://www.JUDICIALWATCH.org
*
Lawsuit worries prompted reversal on college tuition for illegal immigrants
Trustees' chairwoman says board had been bullied
4:49 PM, Apr. 21, 2011
One County College of Morris trustee mentioned the prospect of being sued and paying hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal bills. Others said legal considerations played a part in their deliberations over tuition rates for illegal immigrants.
In the weeks leading up to their vote on Wednesday night, CCM's trustees had received letters from freeholders and a national conservative group called Judicial Watch saying they were violating federal laws. Concerns about those laws, and the possibility of lawsuits, seemed to spur a 9-2 vote to charge higher, out-of-state rates to undocumented students even if they live in the county.
The vote came at the end of a meeting in front of more than 200 people that lasted almost four hours and included emotional testimony from dozens of people on both sides of the issue.
After the vote, some undocumented students who said they could not afford out of state tuition rates had tears in their eyes. The vote reversed part of a policy that the same board approved, 7-1, just two months ago.
"I'm not in favor of defending in court a vote of ours that might cost tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees," trustee Alan Gordon said during the meeting.
Elaine Johnson, chairwoman of the trustees, voted with the minority and said she believed the trustees had been bullied, although she did not specify who was doing the bullying. She said the February vote to charge in-county tuition to undocumented students, many of whom have lived in the U.S. most of their lives, seemed simple at the time.
"Then the bigotry, hatred, threats and lies came," she said. "I realize bullying is so wrong. . . . There is no law that currently exists that makes the act we took (in February) illegal."
The CCM trustees voted on Feb. 26 to allow some undocumented students into the school — as long as they lived in the U.S. at least five years and were here before they were 16. They had been barred following the 9/11 terrorist attacks. The trustees also voted to charge in-county tuition to students who live in Morris County.
That gave CCM a written policy similar to what many other county colleges are doing across the state without writing it down. A recent New Jersey Press Media survey found most county colleges, without adopting policies, check only whether students reside in their counties and not whether they are documented.
Morris County freeholders, saying they didn't want to support tuition breaks for illegal immigrants with taxpayer money, asked the CCM trustees to reconsider the lower tuition rates.
"I was pleased with the (Wednesday night) vote, and I also was pleased with the process," said Margaret Nordstom, a freeholder liaison to CCM.
Edward Yaw, president of CCM, said college attorneys in recent weeks had taken a closer look at relevant laws and court cases related to them, and that "the legal aspect" had been a driving factor for many of the trustees' apparent change of heart. Yaw had been in favor of the February policy but didn't take a position on Wednesday's amendment, other than to say it allows undocumented students to get an education. He did say laws related to tuition breaks for undocumented students are ambiguous.
"I still believe there's no law that prohibits the actions (that the board) previously took," Yaw said. "We felt all along the potential was there to be sued by one side or the other."
About one week before the vote, Judicial Watch sent a letter to Johnson saying CCM's policy adopted in February violated a 1996 federal law barring illegal immigrants from receiving "local public benefits" unless they are provided by state law. Judicial Watch has sued a Maryland school over in-county rates for undocumented students.
Paul Orfanedes, director of litigation for Judicial Watch, said his group is considering whether to continue the lawsuit now that Maryland has passed a law that, once signed, would make it the 11th state to offer in-state tuition to undocumented students. He said the letter to CCM was meant to clarify the law.
"If you think encouraging people to follow the law is bullying, then we are bullying," he said after being told Johnson had used the term "bullying" to describe some of the reaction to CCM's February policy change.
Alina Das, a professor with the New York University Law School Immigrant Rights Clinic, said the federal law does not "specifically prohibit" lower tuition rates. The NYU clinic has been giving legal direction to Wind of the Spirit, a local immigrant rights group.
Yaw said CCM might revisit the issue if additional court cases clarify related federal laws.
A related federal statute prohibits providing postsecondary benefits to illegal immigrants based on state residency if the same benefit isn’t available to legal residents. County freeholders have argued that means CCM would have been required to charge in-county rates to students from other states.
However, the California State Supreme Court recently ruled that the federal law didn’t preempt a state law allowing in-state tuition for undocumented students who graduate from California high schools. Judges said in their ruling that the state law is based on where students go to school and not on “residence,” as specified in the federal law. The case is being appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court.
CCM’s admissions policy allows admitting undocumented students only if they have graduated from New Jersey high schools. Yaw said a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in the California case might offer some guidance and be “a trigger” for additional discussions about offering in-county rates for some illegal immigrants who live in the county.
*
http://www.JUDICIALWATCH.org
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