In State Insanity

We live in Florida, and when my children attended college, they chose in-state schools. Like most, if not all, states, there are separate tuition fees for in-state residents and those who want to attend from out-of-state. The reason for this is obvious: every state wants to keep the revenue within its borders, so it offers a discounted rate to those who choose to “stay home” to attend a school.

All of my grandchildren attend schools outside their home states. Fortunately, they all have attained scholarships, or the cost would have been much more prohibitive. The American “higher education” system has suffered greatly over the last several decades, mainly because the radical left insisted on preaching about perceived social injustices and gender ideology rather than brass-tacks education.

The state of Kentucky has decided that the educational injustices inflicted upon the students by meandering off the subjects that should be taught and onto things in the nonsensical realm weren’t bad enough. They decided to limit the spaces available to in-state American students by allowing illegals who resided in Kentucky to attend at the discounted in-state rate.

So, if anyone in your family wanted to attend a college in Kentucky and lived out of state, they would pay a higher rate than someone who resided in Kentucky illegally.

I don’t need a map to see that Florida, North Carolina, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and any of the other 50 states that are logically considered as out of state are still closer than Mexico, Colombia, or Venezuela.

Earlier this week, Attorney General Pam Bondi announced that the Justice Department will file a lawsuit against Kentucky for a policy permitting illegal immigrants in the state to qualify for in-state tuition rates at public universities.

The U.S. v. Andrew Beshear case was filed in the Eastern District federal court in Lexington. It alleges that the law “unconstitutionally discriminates against U.S. citizens who are not afforded the same privileges,” particularly those from out of state.

Bondi clarified, “No state should be allowed to treat Americans like second-class citizens in their own country by offering financial benefits to illegal aliens. The Department of Justice just won on this exact issue in Texas, and we look forward to fighting in Kentucky to protect the rights of American citizens.”

Kentucky’s governor is Democrat Andy Beshear. Crystal Staley, a spokesperson for his office, stated that Beshear did not create the policy and that an independent agency, the Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education (KCPE), enforces the guidelines. She went on to say that the regulation was issued “before 2010” and that KCPE, not Beshear, has sole authority to determine tuition-related residency requirements.

When asked about the lawsuit, Staley told Fox News Digital, “We haven’t been served with this lawsuit and had no advance notice, nor any prior discussion with the Department of Justice about it. The governor has no authority to alter CPE’s regulations and should not be a party to the lawsuit.”

Fox News Digital contacted the KCPE and learned from their spokesperson, Melissa Young, that the agency only became aware of the lawsuit on Tuesday morning and is not prepared to offer detailed comments. She added that

KCPE’s general counsel is still reviewing the relevant regulations, and the agency is conducting a review before stating its formal position on the suit.

The Republicans hold control over the state legislature and are unhappy with Governor Beshear’s management of the current situation. State Representative T.J. Roberts has proposed House Bill 352, which aims to remove illegal immigrants from being classified as Kentucky residents, especially concerning educational tuition.

“The Beshear administration has been given the chance to right this wrong, first when I introduced legislation to shed light on the issue, and again following a successful legal challenge in Texas. Unfortunately, the governor has chosen to ignore those opportunities and instead continues to defy the Constitution, manipulate the regulatory process to advance his own agenda, and misuse the powers of his office to elevate his national political ambitions. It’s a shameful disservice to the people of Kentucky.”

Beshear is avoiding responsibility through his inaction. Democrats often prioritize the rights of illegal immigrants over those of American citizens. They refer to this as inclusion, but in reality, it is exclusion. Beshear understands that by shrugging his shoulders and asserting that the issue is someone else’s problem, his lack of action permits the injustice to persist.

Bondi is right to seek the elimination of this abuse. Allowing individuals who are unlawfully residing in a state to secure admission to a public university is an insult to American students in that state. It would be a challenging task for Bondi and her staff to examine the admission processes of every public university across the country, making it difficult to determine how many institutions may be perpetuating this same injustice.

The left is systematically undermining the educational system from every possible angle. This is yet another example of Democrats neglecting the rights of American families in an effort to secure more voters. This is not a misguided judgment; it is a blatant misuse of power by agenda-driven liberals aimed at disrupting the normalcy of American life. The left has a deep disdain for American exceptionalism, even in something as fundamental as the opportunity to choose a college without having to compete against individuals who should not be in the country.