LANSING – Rep. Steve Tobocman said some of the top high school valedictorians in his Detroit district are undocumented immigrants this year.

And Tobocman, a Democrat, said he doesn’t think the state should tell public community colleges and universities whether they should allow those students to get in-state tuition.

In fact, Michigan officials are in no hurry to follow the lead of nine states that have adopted laws to allow undocumented residents to attend a college or university for in-state tuition.

And those officials are in no hurry to follow the lead of other states that deny in-state tuition to illegal aliens.

“If they open the door to dictating everything universities do, we’ll put shackles on the universities,” Tobocman said. 

Michigan lawmakers have not yet introduced legislation to address the controversy.

Mike Boulus, executive director of the President’s Council of the State Universities of Michigan, said the issue is so hot at the federal level that little debate is occurring at the state level.

“It’s not an issue anybody wants to take on,” he said.  “We leave the issue to each university to deal with.”

But Boulus also said the question can hit home for non-citizens whose families pay income taxes, attend local high schools and have green cards or other legal authority to be in the United States.

A pending federal bill would permit states to offer in-state tuition rates to students who have lived in the U.S. for more than five years and are under the age of 21.

It would repeal a federal provision that seeks to bar states from providing in-state tuition to undocumented immigrants.

Other states have passed legislation prohibiting such students from receiving in-state tuition and other educational benefits.  For example, Wyoming bars unauthorized immigrants from a new scholarship program, and Georgia denies any student who is not a citizen or a legal permanent resident in-state tuition, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

Ira Mehlman of the Federation of American Immigration Reform (FAIR), said the state shouldn’t reward families for doing something illegal.

“What we need to be doing is enforcing laws in such a way that we say, ‘Don’t come to the United States, don’t bring your kids here, because you will not benefit’,” Mehlman said.  His Washington D.C.-based nonprofit, public-interest group wants tighter immigration control.

“It really does affect the middle class in this country, and they are the people that have some political clout,” he said.