The anti-DREAM Act

Via Latina Lista: You are a citizen of the United States. You were born in Florida and grew up there. You have a Florida driver's license and are a registered Florida voter.

But you have to pay out-of-state tuition in college because your parents, not you, are undocumented. Sound unconstitutional? There really can be no doubt.

The lawsuit, filed by the Southern Poverty Law Center, calls Florida’s policy a direct violation of the U.S. Constitution’s equal-protection clause.

Michael A. Olivas, who teaches immigration and higher education law at the University of Houston, said he was “astounded” by Florida’s actions. Colorado at one time had a similar policy, but abandoned it on the advice of its attorney general, and Olivas said he knows of no other state with significant immigrant populations that is doing this now.

And in a breathtaking example of lack of accountability in government: no one will take responsibility for it and no one can even determine who established the rule in the first place.

The attorneys who filed suit say the policy is the result of administrative rules created in 2005, but they could not pinpoint who spearheaded the creation of those rules or why they did so. Though Florida state law deals with tuition residency issues, it delegates the responsibility to draw up specific rules to the Department of Education (for community colleges) and the Board of Governors (for state universities).

I don't see this lasting too long. It's terrible that it lasted as long as it did.