MALDEF Sues State Over Exclusion Of Vets From Hazelwood Act
[Ed. Note: As we continue to play catch-up from our vacation, forgive us if things are a little stale, but we're trying to hit on all the important stuff we've missed. On some of these things, we'll be using press release and MSM coverage.]
From a Press Release of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund:
Last week, MALDEF filed a lawsuit in federal district court challenging the exclusion of certain military veterans from the Texas Hazelwood Act. The Hazelwood Act provides military veterans a tuition exemption at Texas public colleges and universities throughout the State. However, veterans who were legal permanent residents when they entered the military are being denied the exemption, including those veterans who subsequently became citizens during wartime and thus served as citizens in defense of the United States. The Plaintiffs in this lawsuit include two honorably-discharged Texas veterans who are naturalized U.S. citizens as well as the American GI Forum, the Latino veteran’s organization formed after World War II to oppose discrimination.
Prior to 2006, the Hazelwood Act provided a tuition exemption to all honorably discharged veterans who served during combat regardless of citizenship status when they entered the military. In 2005 the Texas Attorney General issued an opinion defining the phrase “citizen of Texas” as used in the Hazlewood Act to mean a person living in the state of Texas and a U.S. citizen. The application for the Hazlewood Act was changed in response to the Attorney General Opinion and the new application instructs veterans who were not U.S. citizens when they entered the military that they are ineligible for the exemption and that there is no need for them to complete the application.
The lawsuit seeks to provide an equal opportunity to veterans who entered the military as legal permanent residents. In 2005, nearly 9,000 veterans benefited from the tuition exemption.
From the Chron:
Hispanic civil rights groups are railing against the state’s denial of Hazelwood Act college benefits to thousands of mostly Hispanic Texas veterans because of their legal status.
The League of United Latin American Citizens joined the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund’s federal lawsuit against the state, which was filed in San Antonio Thursday. Houston’s LULAC leaders today asked that veterans who were legal permanent residents when they enlisted come forward to join their suit.
“Thousands of soldiers are coming back and are being blind-sided by the fact that they will not get this benefit,” said Jose L. Jimenez, Jr., LULAC’s district director in Houston.
He said measures to make legal residents eligible for the college benefits, sponsored by Sen. Leticia Van de Putte, D-San Antonio, and Rep. Rick Noriega, D-Houston, failed during the last Legislature session.
The lawsuit was filed on behalf of Raul Dominguez and Naser Alzer, both honorably discharged veterans and the American GI Forum of Texas, a veterans advocacy group. Both plaintiffs are college graduates who have exhausted their GI Bill money. They now want to seek master’s degrees.
The suit seeks to reverse some veterans exclusion from the benefits of the Hazelwood Act, which exempts qualified Texas veterans and dependents from all tuition and fee charges, except property deposit fees and student services fees at state colleges and universities. Nearly 9,000 veterans benefited from the Hazelwood exemption in fiscal year 2005, according to the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board.
Before 2006, public institutions in Texas gave the Hazelwood benefit to all qualifying veterans regardless of whether they were U.S. citizens or legal permanent residents when they entered the military. The change came from an August 2005 attorney general’s opinion saying the Hazelwood Act phrase “citizen of Texas” should be interpreted as a person who lives in the state and is a U.S. citizen.
Written by Vince Leibowitz
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