Nebraska AG refuses to sue for immigrants' fair housing rights

Attorney General Jon Bruning is a great American.

"I'm not going to use taxpayer dollars to file lawsuits for illegal aliens," said Bruning after learning that a Hispanic couple said their landlord asked for their driver's licenses, but didn't ask the same of non-Hispanic tenants couple.

"You're not going to get a free lawyer" from his office, he said, "if you're not a citizen of this country."

Bruning, a Republican who has made no secret of his ambition for higher office, argues that the federal 1996 welfare reform law prohibits him from providing legal services to illegal immigrants. He points to a section that says only legal residents should get state or local public benefits. The law defines them to include welfare, disability and health services.