Rick Perry's kinder, gentler view on illegal immigrants: Will it cost him? (The Christian Science Monitor)

Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s support of in-state college tuition rates for children of illegal immigrants is raising eyebrows among tea party Republicans and is giving his challengers for the GOP presidential nomination fresh ammunition to attack him.

At a presidential debate Monday night, a tea-party infused audience booed Governor Perry when he defended his state's practice, and fellow candidates –particularly Rick Santorum, Michele Bachmann, and Mitt Romney – criticized him for signing legislation in 2001 that made Texas the first state to let undocumented residents who graduate from Texas high schools pay the same college tuition rates as legal residents. Since then, 12 other states have enacted similar laws.

“The American way is not to give taxpayer-subsidized benefits to people who have broken our laws and are here in the United States illegally,” Ms. Bachmann said Monday night during a debate sponsored by CNN and Tea Party Express.

RECOMMENDED: Election 101 - 11 questions about Rick Perry and his White House bid

Defending his decision, Perry said the law sends a€?a message to young people that, regardless of what the sound of their last name is, that we believe in you. We are going to allow you to be a contributing members of the state of Texas and not be a drain on the system.a€

Perry’s stance toward immigrants is similar to that of George W. Bush, another Texas governor and presidential aspirant who likewise was attacked for his moderate solutions to immigration reform, such as guest worker programs. Mr. Bush endured the attacks and won the presidency, but Perry, who polls show is the current front-runner, may face a more difficult time.

“What changed [since then] is [that] the base of the Republican Party is much more concerned about unauthorized immigration,” says Louis DeSipio, a political scientist at the University of California at Irvine. “Where Bush was able to distinguish himself as a new type of Republican, a ‘compassionate conservative,’ it’s not going to be so easy for Governor Perry this year.”

Perry finds himself in the unusual situation of sharing common ground with California Gov. Jerry Brown (D), who is poised to sign a bill that expands his state’s tuition law for illegal immigrant students by allowing them to apply for publicly funded financial aid. The California Assembly voted Friday to send the governor the bill, a companion to a bill Brown signed in July that allows illegal immigrant students access to privately funded college aid.

California's financial aid incentives for students in the US illegally are the most generous in the US. In states that allow such students to pay the same tuition rates as legal state residents, they must prove they have lived in the state at least three years, received their high school diploma or G.E.D. in the state, and sign an affidavit promising to seek legal status.

Texas and California were the first states to offer in-state tuition rates to such students. During the past decade, 11 states followed their lead: Utah, New York, Washington, Illinois, Kansas, New Mexico, Nebraska, Wisconsin, Maryland, Oklahoma, and Connecticut. In 2008, however, Oklahoma revoked its law, which had been on the books for five years.

Advocates of the legislation say that by offering in-state tuition rates to children who bear no responsibility for the fact that their parents entered the US illegally, states are making higher education more available to young people who cannot afford the higher out-of-state price tags at public colleges. Critics say the allowance is a burden to taxpayers and unfairly takes resources from potential students who are legal residents.

a€?These states are recognizing that these are the best of the best a€“ kids who have overcome illegal status and have graduated high school and have gotten into competitive state universities. The states want to hold onto these kids and not have them lost into the underground economy,a€

But the trend of states granting such tuition benefits to such undocumented students may have peaked, adds DeSipio, especially now that Republican majorities won many statehouses in the 2010 elections and made immigration reform a legislative priority.

Since its passage in 2001, the Texas legislation has applied to 12,138 students, or 1 percent of all Texas college students, the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board reported in 2010.

Though many in the tea party movement no doubt object to Perry's stance on this issue, moderate Republicans may be more inclined to support it, says Leo Chavez, director of the Chicano/Latino Studies Program at UC Irvine. More important, Perry's position will play well with Hispanics, whose population grew 43 percent from 2000 through 2010.

“To make [Perry] out as the devil [over immigration] doesn’t play well nationally for Latinos,” says Mr. Chavez. The other candidates “aren’t looking past the primary, obviously, because they want to win [the nomination].”

RECOMMENDED: Election 101 - 11 questions about Rick Perry and his White House bid

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Groups sue to block Ala. illegal immigration law (AP)

MONTGOMERY, Ala. – Civil rights groups sued Friday in federal court to block Alabama's new law cracking down on illegal immigration, which supporters and opponents have called the strictest measure of its kind in the nation.

The lawsuit, filed in Huntsville, said the law is of "unprecedented reach" and goes beyond similar laws passed in Arizona, Utah, Indiana and Georgia. Federal judges already have blocked all or parts of the laws in those states. It asks a judge to declare Alabama's law unconstitutional and prevent it from being enforced.

Alabama's law, which takes effect Sept. 1, allows police to arrest anyone suspected of being an illegal immigrant if the person is stopped for some other reason. It also requires businesses to check the legal status of new workers and requires schools to report the immigration status of students.

Matthew Webster was among the individuals who joined the lawsuit as plaintiffs. He and his wife, who live in the community of Alabaster south of Birmingham, are in the process of adopting two boys who are already in the country illegally. Webster, who described himself as politically conservative, said he feared the boys could face deportation under the new law before the adoption process is done and the boys are in the U.S. legally.

He said the boys "have the fear of being picked up" even walking to school.

"This criminalizes me and my wife for harboring and transporting these kids," he said.

The lawsuit said the new law will subject Alabama residents, including U.S. citizens and non-citizens who are in the country legally, to racial profiling. The law also recalls memories of Alabama's troubled segregationist past by making life more difficult for a targeted class of people, according to the lawsuit.

"Individuals who may be perceived as `foreign' by state or local law enforcement agents will be in constant jeopardy of harassment and unlawfully prolonged detention by state law enforcement officers," the lawsuit said.

Parents may not enroll their children in elementary and high schools because of the law's provision requiring schools to check the immigration status of students, the groups said in the lawsuit. Lawmakers have said that the intent of that requirement is to gauge how much the state is spending to educate illegal immigrants, and that the law does not prohibit illegal immigrants from attending public schools.

Alabama's law also makes it a crime to knowingly give a ride to an illegal immigrant and for landlords to knowingly rent to illegal immigrants.

The lawsuit was filed by various organizations across northern Alabama that represent immigrant groups as well as individual immigrants who are listed under the pseudonyms John Doe and Jane Doe. The lawsuit names as defendants various state and local officials, including Republican Gov. Robert Bentley, Attorney General Luther Strange and state schools Superintendent Joe Morton.

Supporters of the new law, including Bentley, have predicted it would withstand any legal challenges.

The law was written so that if any provisions are found to be unconstitutional, other parts of the law can remain in effect.

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Mich. ban on race in college admissions illegal (AP)

DETROIT – A federal appeals court has struck down Michigan's ban on the consideration of race and gender in university admissions.

In a 2-1 decision Friday, the court said Michigan's Proposal 2 is unconstitutional because it burdens minorities. Voters approved the amendment to the state constitution in 2006, and the court notes the only way people who disagree with it can seek change is in another statewide vote.

The law has forced the University of Michigan and other public schools to change admissions policies giving minorities preferential treatment.

The ban passed with 58 percent of the vote nearly five years ago and also applies to government hiring.

Arizona, California, Nebraska and Washington state have similar bans.

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