Kansas House Considers Immigration

An emotional crowd gathered for a House committee hearing on a measure that seeks to repeal a statute allowing in-state tuition for Kansas students without legal residency.

The measure would repeal a statute that allows students who graduate from Kansas high schools and have lived in Kansas for at least three years to pay in-state tuition at state universities and community colleges, regardless of residency status.

Secretary of State Kris Kobach told the committee Wednesday that natives of foreign countries who seek student visas to attend Kansas universities pay out-of-state tuition.

The biggest response from the crowded gallery, however, came when Rep. Ponka-We Victors, the lone American Indian in the Legislature, told Kobach when he thinks of illegal immigrant, "I think of all of you."