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July 16, 2005
 The
Fight For Justice In Kansas: The Fat Lady Has Not
Sung
By
Joe Guzzardi
I’m still trying to make sense of
the news out of Kansas.
Last week U.S District Judge
Richard Rogers ruled that out of state U.S. citizen
students at various Kansas universities had "no right
of action" in their efforts to receive treatment
equal to that of illegal alien students. [Day
et al, vs Sebelius, et al]
Non-resident students sued Kansas
governor Kathleen Sebelius to demand that they be
offered the
same discounted tuition fees made available to illegal
aliens. Short of that, the plaintiffs wanted Kansas
H.B. 2145 overturned. This is the new law in Kansas,
passed last year, which made illegal immigrants
equal to residents in terms of access to in-state
tuition.
Rogers claimed that although the
out of state students paid significantly higher
fees (in-state is about one-third the amount of
out-of-state), they suffered no damage.
(Read the VDARE.COM blog for a
professional analysis by a Washington, D.C.attorney.)
As I mull the
Kansas case over, I am struggling with three
emotions:
- Great pity for the residents of
Kansas. A
runaway illegal alien freight train is barreling
their way. Kansas, once synonymous with tall corn and
magnificent
sunflowers, is poised to become the next
Iowa or
North Carolina. Years ago, those two states
claimed a high quality of life. But now they are now
faltering under the burden of illegal aliens and
those, like Governor Sebelius, who do their bidding.
- Second, Bewilderment about the
21st Century version of the Republican
Party. In Kansas, a bedrock conservative state, the
G.O.P. controls both the
Kansas House and Senate. Yet H.B. 2145 passed
resoundingly
81-43 and 25-15 respectively. What are they
trying to conserve? Do not fail to notice, the Kansas
GOP pols have it their power still to reverse this
atrocity - if they had the courage
- Third, I’m embarrassed at my own
naiveté. A year ago,
writing about the Kansas lawsuit, I predicted a
happy ending. All the facts, especially
laws prohibiting post secondary education benefits
to aliens, are on our side. But that’s the way it goes
in immigration reform. We’re on the
right side of all the arguments. Then we go head
to head with the likes of Governor Sebelius (e-mail
governor@state.ks.us) and Judge Rogers: blind and
dogmatic partisans of non-countrymen.
Take pity on poor Kansas.
By 2000, the
illegal alien population in Kansas had increased 262
percent from its 1990 levels to 47,000.
As always, schools
take it on the chin. The K-12 enrollment increased
14 percent during that decade.
And consider this ominous item from
the February 2004
"Summary of the State Board of Education Meeting"
"Another conclusion of the study was that students
enrolling in accredited schools are becoming more
diverse and more at-risk. The percentage of students on
free and reduced price lunches in public schools
increased from 28 percent in 1993-94 to 37 percent in
2003-04, while the percent of
minority students increased from 17 percent to 25
percent during the same time period."
Now, on top of all this, unmerited
and illegal university tuition breaks. This make
Kansas—already bearing the brunt of an unprecedented
flow of aliens—all the more appealing to lawbreakers.
With these incentives, why not go to Kansas?
While writing my column last year,
I could not imagine it would be possible for anyone, as
Judge Rogers has done, to rule that out-of-state
students are
not damaged and have "no right of action" by
Kansas’ offer of lower tuition to illegal aliens.
But Bob Manzel, a Nebraska
elementary school teacher whose daughter Kayla attends
Kansas University, understands the truth is quite
different.
In a long telephone conversation
with Manzel, he told me that:
"My
wife, Karla, and I have been saving for our three
daughters’ education for about twenty years! Our oldest
daughter, Kayla, will begin her fourth year at Kansas
University, in Lawrence, Kansas, this fall. She wanted
to go there because of their excellent School of
Journalism.
We have
been aboard the suit against Governor Sebelius ever
since. We completed affidavits and had to get together
three years of tax statements, KU
tuition costs (in-state vs. out-of-state for each
year,) and educational loans taken out. Besides Kayla's
Student Loan each semester, my wife and I have borrowed
over $50,000 through what are called: P.L.U.S. (Parents'
Loans for Undergraduate Students.)
Once
again, I want to remind you that twenty years ago my
wife and I began the long process of ensuring that our
children would have access to a college education. We
wanted to give them the best possible start, in their
adult lives, where they can be free to pursue their
dreams."
Concluded Manzel:
"Karla
is a
registered nurse. I am a
school- teacher. We have worked hard and saved. Is
it fair that illegal aliens can get something for next
to nothing when we have sacrificed for years?"
In another interview, recent Kansas
University graduate
Chris Heath resented Rogers’ decision, too. Like
Manzel, Heath feels that H.B. 2145 has financially
damaged him.
Said Heath:
"Rogers
noted that we didn't suffer any personal harm from the
decision to implement the law …But when I pay over 200%
of my yearly income to tuition, while an
ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT (note the word
ILLEGAL) gets to pay in-state tuition, I think it's
a slap in the face to all the people who inhabit this
country by the rules! I can understand if someone says
one person’s hardships are more deserving than mine.
Some students qualify for welfare, some for financial
aid, scholarships, and a whole host of things that I
don't qualify for because of circumstances. I can accept
that.
"What I
can't accept is one state deviating from what federal
law clearly spells out in order to benefit a people who
are here ILLEGALLY. Let's not forget that. Illegal,
meaning that they haven't complied with proper laws to
be here. So while I think the judge had a real easy
opportunity to right a clear wrong, he took the easy way
out by saying it's not for him to deal with."
However, the fight is not yet over.
Federation for American Immigration
Reform lawyer
Michael M. Hethmon will join Kobach in appealing
Rogers’ decision at the Tenth Circuit U.S. Court of
Appeals in Denver.
When I spoke to him, Hethmon cited
"serious errors in the legal reasoning" in
Rogers’ decision as ample cause for an appeal.
Kobach is also optimistic.
In an
interview with CNN’s Kitty Pilgrim, Kobach said:
"I
think we'll have a very good chance there. The judge in
this …case…glossed over some really important precedents
that make clear that our plaintiffs do have
standing, they have suffered a sufficient injury.
"I
think anyone can understand the injury here, when a U.S.
citizen is denied the opportunity to get something that
an illegal alien can get. There's a fundamental equal
protection problem, as well as a federal statutory
problem."
Now all of us…Manzel, Heath,
Hethmon, Kobach, Jeff Beck who heads the
Kansas Alliance for Immigration Reform and VDARE
readers…do what are so skilled at.
We soldier on.
With the spirit of the law clearly
on our side, I remain as optimistic about the appeal of
H.B.2145 as I was one year ago.
Joe Guzzardi [email
him], an instructor in English at the Lodi
Adult School, has been writing a weekly newspaper column
since 1988. This column is exclusive to VDARE.COM. |
