Topeka ? The national battle over U.S. immigration policy broke out on a new, Kansas front Monday with the filing of a lawsuit on behalf of several Kansas University students and parents.

A national group that wants to reduce immigration, together with attorney and Kansas congressional candidate Kris Kobach, filed a lawsuit seeking to block a new state law allowing some undocumented immigrants to pay resident tuition rates at Kansas universities, instead of the more expensive out-of-state student rates.

The federal court case “will have a far-reaching effect,” predicted Mike Heathmon, staff attorney for the Washington, D.C.-based Federation for American Immigration Reform.

Kansas officials denounced the lawsuit, saying the new law is meant to improve the state’s work force and provide hard-working students incentive to go to college and fulfill their potential.

The law, which took effect July 1, gives in-state benefits to illegal immigrants who attended a Kansas high school for at least three years and graduated or earned a general educational development certificate in Kansas. Eligible immigrants also must actively be seeking legal immigrant status or plan to do so at soonest opportunity.

U.S. citizens can apply for in-state tuition rates if they have lived in Kansas for at least one year before the start of classes, rely on in-state sources for financial support and demonstrate intent to remain in Kansas indefinitely.

The new Kansas law targeted by the lawsuit is similar to those adopted in seven other states, but Kansas is the first state FAIR has taken to court.

Heathmon said it had been difficult to recruit attorneys in the other states to challenge the laws, but in Kansas, Kobach agreed to take the lead.

“It was kismet,” Heathmon said.

After filing the lawsuit Monday in Topeka, Kobach, flanked by more than a dozen college students, conducted a news conference at the Capitol. “This law is profoundly unfair to law-abiding U.S. students. It is a slap in the face to law-abiding U.S. students,” he said.

KU connections

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Half of the 24 plaintiffs are linked to KU either as students or parents of students; many of them were recruited through newspaper ads.

Chris Heath, a senior psychology student at KU from Monterey, Calif., said it was unfair he had to pay out-of-state tuition when an illegal immigrant could pay in-state rates. Nonresident tuition for 15 hours of undergraduate coursework is about $6,058, while the same classes would cost $2,081 for a resident.

“I graduated from high school; I got straight A’s, too. The key word here is illegal. It’s reverse discrimination and unfair,” said Heath, who said he supported himself by substitute teaching in Lawrence public schools.

Other students said the law rewarded students who were here illegally, while discriminating against those who followed the rules.

The lawsuit seeks either to overturn the tuition law or require Kansas to extend in-state tuition benefits to all U.S. citizens attending a public university in the state. No hearing date has been scheduled.

KU Chancellor Robert Hemenway is named as one of the defendants in the lawsuit. A call to a KU spokesman was not returned.

But state officials said the law was fair.

Matt All, chief counsel to Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, said the law set the parameters of who could apply for in-state tuition.

“It just doesn’t discriminate against illegal immigrants,” he said.

Reginald Robinson, president and chief executive of the Kansas Board of Regents, issued a statement in favor of the law.

“We all benefit when the most talented and eager among us — those who have grown up in our communities and graduated from our high schools — enjoy broad opportunities to further their education.

“Laws such as this one, which removes barriers to educational access, are helpful and important in that regard.”

Political overtones

The filing of the lawsuit also spilled into a hotly contested Republican primary.

Kobach is one of three candidates in the primary for the 3rd Congressional District, which includes eastern Lawrence.

The campaign of Adam Taff, also a candidate in the race, criticized Kobach for aligning himself with FAIR, a group Taff’s campaign said received funding from racist groups.

“Kobach has been cautioned about FAIR’s agenda, yet he still chooses to associate with the organization,” Taff campaign manager Bob Zender said.

Both Kobach and FAIR representatives denied the group received donations from racist groups and said the accusations were being made to cloud the issue about the lawsuit and immigration reform.

Heathmon said FAIR sought to control illegal immigration and cut legal immigration by 50 percent. The group opposes a federal version of the Kansas law on tuition, which has gathered bi-partisan support in Congress. He said FAIR had 70,000 members nationwide, including 600 in Kansas.