In a 9-to-2 vote, the Board of Trustees of the County College of Morris in New Jersey reversed a recent decision to allow undocumented students to enroll as a state residents, the Huffington Post and nj.com report. The community college first decided to allow admission to illegal immigrants, charging them in-state tuition, in February, which drew criticism from some who saw the move as taxpayer-funded education for illegals.

The conservative group Judicial Watch submitted a letter to the board claiming the trustees’ move was illegal. According to one of the trustees, Alan Gordon, it was the threat of legal action that led the board to revisit the earlier vote:

“I’m not in favor of defending in court a vote of ours that might cost tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees.”

But trustee chair Elaine Johnson said the reversal was not based on sound legal reasoning and instead “bigotry, hatred, threats and lies.” College President Edward Yaw didn’t directly comment on the controversy, but when asked, said he didn’t think the school would have been in legal jeopardy in it had followed through on its February plan.

According to NJ.com, the illegal immigrants will now have to pay $9,780 annually for their community college tuition, more than double the in-state rate of $3,450.