Bill Text: NJ A380 | 2010-2011 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Prohibits public and independent institutions of higher education from admitting any student who is not a United States citizen or who does not hold lawful immigration status.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 3-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2010-01-12 - Introduced, Referred to Assembly Higher Education Committee [A380 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2010-A380-Introduced.html
STATE OF NEW JERSEY
214th LEGISLATURE
PRE-FILED FOR INTRODUCTION IN THE 2010 SESSION
Sponsored by:
Assemblyman ANTHONY M. BUCCO
District 25 (Morris)
Assemblyman MICHAEL PATRICK CARROLL
District 25 (Morris)
SYNOPSIS
Prohibits public and independent institutions of higher education from admitting any student who is not a United States citizen or who does not hold lawful immigration status.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
Introduced Pending Technical Review by Legislative Counsel
An Act concerning admission to institutions of higher education and supplementing chapter 3 of Title 18A of the New Jersey Statutes.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. a. A public or independent institution of higher education shall not admit any applicant for admission to the institution who is not a citizen of the United States or who does not hold lawful immigration status.
b. A public or independent institution of higher education shall be required to obtain from each applicant for admission to the institution documentary evidence of the applicant's United States citizenship or lawful immigration status. In the case of an applicant who is a United States citizen, the documentary evidence shall be a valid or expired United States passport, original birth certificate, or duly-authenticated copy of the birth certificate. In the case of an applicant who is not a United States citizen but who has lawful immigration status, the documentary evidence shall be an original document issued by a United States government agency attesting to the applicant's lawful immigration status in the United States, such as a valid visa or "green card." The institution of higher education shall maintain a copy of the documentary evidence in each admitted student's file and shall produce the evidence upon request by the State to verify a student's United States citizenship or lawful immigration status.
2. a. A public or independent institution of higher education that admits an applicant who is not a citizen of the United States or who does not hold lawful immigration status shall be subject to a fine of $50,000 for the first offense, $100,000 for a second offense, and $150,000 for each subsequent offense. Failure by the institution to produce the documentary evidence required pursuant to subsection b. of section 1 of this act shall be deemed an illegal admission of the student and the institution shall be subject to the fines established pursuant to this subsection.
b. Twenty percent of the amount of any fine imposed pursuant to subsection a. of this section shall be assessed against the president or chief executive officer of the institution, and the institution shall not reimburse the president or chief executive officer, directly or indirectly. If the institution acts to reimburse the president or chief executive officer, the institution shall be subject to the imposition of an additional fine in an amount equal to three times the amount assessed against the president or chief executive officer. The State Treasurer is authorized to reduce any State aid the institution is eligible to receive by an amount equal to any outstanding fines imposed for a violation of any of the provisions of this act.
c. It shall be an affirmative defense to liability under this act in regard to the admission of a student if the institution provides for examination by the State written confirmation from the issuing agency that the documentary evidence of the student's United States citizenship or lawful immigration status is genuine.
3. This act shall take effect 90 days after enactment and shall not apply to the admission of a student by an institution of higher education that occurs prior to the effective date.
STATEMENT
Students who are not United States citizens or who do not hold lawful immigration status currently attend institutions of higher education in New Jersey, thereby displacing competing students who are United States citizens or lawfully present in the United States.
It is the sponsor's intent to assure that no student who is a United States citizen or who holds lawful immigration status is denied admission to an institution of higher education in New Jersey because a student who is not a United States citizen and does not hold lawful status to be present in the United States is admitted by such institution. Further, it is the sponsor's conviction that it constitutes fundamentally unsound public policy for New Jersey to permit institutions of higher education to admit students whose presence in the United States violates federal law. Such a public policy exhibits contempt for the rule of law and, in fact, encourages individuals who are neither United States citizens nor lawfully present in the United States to violate the laws of the United States.
The bill prohibits a public or independent institution of higher education from admitting any applicant for admission to the institution who is not a United States citizen or who does not hold lawful immigration status and requires these institutions to require and maintain documentary evidence of each admitted student's United States citizenship or lawful immigration status. The bill provides for progressive fines if an institution of higher education violates the provisions of the law and assesses a portion of these fines against the president or chief executive officer of the institution. This provision is intended to make sure that the individual who oversees the daily operation of the institution of higher education makes compliance with the provisions of this bill a priority.
