RICHMOND, Va. — Virginia is sitting out the legal fight over President Obama’s controversial amnesty order, even though illegal immigration costs Virginians more than $1.8 billion a year.
Indeed, while 25 other state attorneys general are suing the administration to block the path to citizenship for some 5 million illegals in this country, Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring is rolling out more government benefits.
The Democrat ruled last spring that Virginia must provide illegal immigrants subsidized in-state tuition to Virginia’s public colleges and universities.
Herring spokesman Michael Kelley said the AG made the decision “after extensive legal review.”
“This is the exact same conclusion then-Attorney General Bob McDonnell reached regarding immigrants with temporary protected status. Because they have been approved for (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals), these students are considered ‘lawfully present’,” Kelley said.
DACA students can be up to 31 years old to qualify for the tuition breaks.
The AG’s office offered this press release to explain the legal issues.
To his knowledge, Kelley said the attorney general “was never asked to participate” in the 25-state lawsuit now pending in a Texas federal court. The lawsuit challenges President Obama’s order to legalize more than 4 million residents in this country illegally.
As of December 2013, approximately 8,100 people in Virginia had their DACA applications approved.
Virginia taxpayers subsidize roughly half the tuition expense for in-state residents — about $6,000 per year per student.
Virginia Delegate Bob Marshall, R-Manassas, charged that Herring’s in-state tuition expansion “usurped the authority of the General Assembly.”
“We set the rules as to who is eligible, and the rates, because we appropriate the money for in-state students,” Marshall said of the legislature.
