Kansas Could End In-State Rates for Undocumented Students

Kansas lawmakers cut a deal that would end in-state tuition for undocumented students, The Kansas Reflector reported.

House Republicans in the State Legislature supported the decades-old policy for months, passing legislation that allowed immigrant students to receive in-state tuition if they attended a Kansas high school for three years and applied for citizenship. The Senate’s version of the bill ended the program entirely.

However, during talks to resolve the different versions of the legislation, SB 254, a conference committee agreed to nix the policy in exchange for the Senate dropping provisions aimed at denying bond to undocumented immigrants and presumed those charged with a crime were a flight risk. The House signed off on the compromise last week, and the Senate has yet to vote on it as of Monday afternoon.

The effort to strip in-state tuition from undocumented students comes as the Trump administration has sued several states over similar policies, arguing they violate federal laws. In three of the seven lawsuits, the states agreed with the administration and scrapped their state laws. Kansas was not targeted, but state Attorney General Kris Kobach wrote in an opinion that the state law was illegal. 

“For more than 20 years, Kansas has been violating federal law with impunity,” Kobach said in a Feb. 10 statement. “Kansas legislators would do well to bring Kansas into compliance with the law rather than being sued by the federal government.”