Georgia's state board of regents decided today to ban illegal immigrants from the University of Georgia, Georgia Tech and four other schools effective next fall, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports.
The new ruling gives admissions favor to Georgia residents. According to the Journal-Constitution, the regents ruled that illegal immigrants should not be able to enroll at any college "that has rejected academically qualified applicants for the past two academic years because of a lack of space or other issues." The other schools affected by the ban include Georgia State, Medical College of Georgia and Georgia College & State University.
Earlier this year, the state was rocked by the case of Jessica Colotl, a Kennesaw State University student who was placed in a detention center after she was discovered to be an illegal immigrant during a routine traffic stop. After an intense lobbying campaign, her case was deferred for a year and she was allowed to continue in her studies.
In light of Colotl's case, the Journal-Constitution reported that Georgia's public colleges actually require unlawful U.S. residents to lie on their college applications in order to have any chance of gaining entry:
The form used by the 35 institutions that make up the University System of Georgia asks prospective students to disclose their citizen status. They have just three options:
* U.S. citizen;
* Nonresident alien: A person who is not a citizen or national of the U.S. and who is in this country on a visa or temporary basis and does not have the right to remain indefinitely;
* Permanent resident: A non-citizen living in the U.S. under legally recognized and lawfully recorded permanent residence status as an immigrant.
According to the Red & Black, the University of Georgia's freshman class has not a single undocumented student. Previously, the regents said that undocumented students could attend the state's public universities if they paid out-of-state tuition.
What's your take? Does this ruling seem extreme or fair? Weigh in below.