A confrontation between certain states and localities and the federal government is looming over the matter of giving sanctuary to illegal aliens. Top of the list is California, which seeks in every perverse way to defy the law. Consider its misuse of its tax dollars in its University of California system.
We just filed a Petition of Review with the California Supreme Court over the University of California’s provision of $27.1 million in taxpayer funds for non-resident tuition and financial aid to illegal aliens. The petition was filed on behalf of Earl De Vries, a legal resident and taxpayer of California (Earl De Vries vs. Regents of the University of California (No. BC555614)).
Federal immigration law requires that a state law providing benefits to illegal aliens must "affirmatively" provide for such eligibility. In 2011, the California State Legislature passed and Governor Jerry Brown signed into law a bill giving illegal immigrant college students access to state-funded financial aid. Under the California constitution, however, the UC Board of Regents is "entirely independent" of the state legislature in policy matters, so there is no lawful way for the California legislature to allow or require the University of California to provide the public benefits for illegal aliens. And, under the federal law, only state legislatures may provide any in-state tuition and public benefits for illegal aliens. Despite this, the UC Board of Regents began providing the benefits anyway.
In August 2014, JW filed a taxpayer lawsuit on behalf of De Vries in the L.A. County Superior Court, asking the court to halt the estimated annual $19.6 million in non-resident tuition waivers; $4.3 million in taxpayer-funded grants and scholarships; and $3.2 million in state loans the Regents had started giving illegal alien students. Under California law, taxpayers have the right to sue government officials to prevent unlawful expenditures of taxpayer funds and taxpayer-financed resources.
In March 2015, the Superior Court dismissed the complaint and a Court of Appeal subsequently affirmed the lower court rule on December 9, 2016. This is why we are now petitioning the California Supreme Court.
Our legal team argues that the lower courts ignored federal immigration law requiring that a legislature "affirmatively" provide for the illegal alien tuition benefits and that the lower court decisions could upend federal immigration law:
[T]he decision undermines a cohesive national immigration policy, potentially turning a law that allows 50 state legislatures to make decisions into a law that allows 500 or 5,000 state and local institutions to do so [e.g., UC Board of Regents] – weakening the federal government’s ability to conduct unified diplomacy for the entire nation.
California politicians want to do an end run around federal law to force California taxpayers to subsidize illegal aliens. In-state tuition for illegal aliens at the University of California violates state and federal law as surely as any other sanctuary policy — and California tax dollars must not be spent to violate the law.
Tom Fitton is the president of Judicial Watch. He is a nationally recognized expert on government corruption. A former talk radio and television host and analyst, Tom is well known across the country as a national spokesperson for the conservative cause. He has been quoted in Time, Vanity Fair, The Washington Post, The New York Times, and most every other major newspaper in the country. For more of his reports, Go Here Now.
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