Student protesters and the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation of Georgia called on the State Board of Regents Wednesday to eliminate a policy that bans illegal immigrants from attending the state’s top colleges.

The ban, which went into place in fall 2011, prohibits illegal immigrants from attending colleges that had to turn away academically qualified students for the past two years. This year it applied to University of Georgia, Georgia Tech, Georgia State, Georgia Health Sciences and Georgia College & State universities.

Illegal immigrants may attend other colleges in the University System of Georgia, provided they pay out-of-state tuition.

A rally against the ban was held in Athens. The ACLU also sent the regents a letter calling on them to reconsider the policy.

The regents have repeatedly refused to rescind the rule.