Judge rules that immigrants granted deferred deportation status can get in-state tuition

PHOENIX – A judge says young immigrants granted deferred deportation status by the Obama administration are eligible for in-state college tuition.

Tuesday's ruling from Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Arthur Anderson comes in a lawsuit filed by former Attorney General Tom Horne against the Maricopa County Community College District.

Horne contended that so-called "dreamers" offered deferred action status were not legally present in the U.S and could not get state benefits because of a 2006 voter-enacted law known as Proposition 300.

But Anderson says the federal government considers deferred action recipients lawfully in the U.S. and they can get lower in-state tuition.

President Barack Obama created the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program in 2012 for young people who had been brought to the United States illegally as children.