Topeka ? Republican Secretary of State candidate Kris Kobach today announced that he has filed a lawsuit in Nebraska challenging that state’s law that allows the children of some illegal immigrants the lower in-state tuition rates.

“It is a great injustice when U.S. citizens who have always obeyed the law are charged more in tuition than aliens whose very presence in the United States is a violation of federal law,” said Kobach, an attorney and law school professor.

Kobach challenged a similar law in Kansas but that effort was unsuccessful.

Under the Kansas law, the student must have lived in Kansas at least three years, graduated from a Kansas high school, and seek or promise to seek legal status. Supporters of the law say it is intended to help students who have lived here most of their lives and had no say on whether to come to this country illegally.

Kobach faces J.R. Claeys and Elizabeth Ensley in the Republican Party primary. Democrats in the race are state Sen. Chris Steineger of Kansas City and Kansas Securities Commissioner Chris Biggs.