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Recently a unanimous ruling by the California Supreme Court says that at the public universities and colleges, illegal immigrants are eligible for the same discounts in tuition fee just like the state’s legal residents.

This is the latest ruling in a series of battles regarding the immigration policies of the state. The latest immigration law of the Arizona state has been challenged by the US department of justice in court and other states with similar laws have followed suit including Texas and Nebraska.

At present, California students attending a minimum of three years high school before graduating are offered in-state tuition in public schools. This can provide them with a saving of at least $12,000 a year. This is quite a significant amount of savings as compared to what students coming from other states have to pay. At present, illegal immigrants are not eligible for financial aid or state financial aid.

According to the California court ruling, with regards to illegal immigrant education benefits, the Federal benefit prohibition does not really conflict with the 2001 state law. This is essentially to ensure that American students coming to study in California high schools also have access to these benefits.

In the court’s opinion, one of the most conservative judges Justice Ming W. Chin said that the situation cannot arise where without providing American citizens with the same benefits, court cannot offer benefits to unlawful immigrant students.

The Arizona immigration law was drafted with the help of legal scholar Kris Kobach. On behalf of other state American citizens who are ineligible for tuition fee benefits, he argued the case. This is his significant latest effort in bringing about strict policies governing illegal immigration. He reiterated that they would be appealing to the Supreme Court on the ruling.

Mr. Kobach said that situation definitely favors the law enforcement and is in favor of not supporting illegal immigration. More than half the public school student population in California is the Latinos. Democrats were able to fare better here due to strong Latino support as compared to other states in the midterm elections.

There is a strong hope among supporters of the immigration rule overhaul that illegal immigrants would be offered a path towards becoming citizens and will be offered federal financial aid and this issue would be taken up in the Congress lame-duck session.

According to Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund general counsel and President Thomas A. Saenz, so many students who face difficulties to obtain federal aid due to ineligibility will have access to higher education through this law. He stressed on the fact that higher education becomes practically impossible for students who face the challenge of high tuition rates as well as being ineligible.

University of California law school dean Kevin R. Johnson said that future lawsuits in other states are likely to be discouraged with this ruling. Professor Johnson opines that now is the time for Congress to act and bring about positive outcomes.