Does immigration law unfairly affect students?

STILLWATER — Oklahoma's immigration law unfairly punishes some of the state's greatest assets: young people with the ability and desire to gain a college education, a University of Houston law professor said Tuesday.

The law that went into effect Nov. 1 makes it harder for illegal immigrants to qualify for in-state college tuition and bars them from state scholarships.

Michael Olivas said that is unfair because it targets the children of parents who brought them here illegally. Some teens do not know they are illegal until they are asked for proof of residency when they apply to college.

"You can't simply punish the kids in hopes that their parents will go home,” Olivas said during his Kamm Lecture address at Oklahoma State University. "These children are here simply because their parents brought them here.”

What have colleges done?

The state Regents for Higher Education changed some policies in October to bring them into compliance with the new law.

Undocumented students who have lived in Oklahoma for at least two years and have graduated from high school remain eligible for in-state tuition if they have applied with the federal government to legalize their status or pledge to do so as soon as they are eligible.

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