On Tuesday, at least eight demonstrators were arrested while protesting Policy 4.1.6, a three-year-old rule that forces students to produce documentation of legal status in public university admissions, discriminating against students based on immigration status. Three of those arrested included students fighting for the right to equal education.

We stand with those who were arrested demanding an end to segregation #LiftBAN @BORUSG pic.twitter.com/O2ZUrFPlyp

— Moral Monday GA (@MoralMondayGA) May 20, 2014

"A person not lawfully present in the United States shall not be eligible for admission to any university system," Policy 4.1.6 states. All students who apply to any of the five institutions covered by the policy must produce verification of their status as a citizen or legal resident in order to be admitted to the university, despite the fact that many had graduated from public high schools in Georgia.

Before the 2011 policy, undocumented students were admitted to the five Georgia Universities, but were not permitted to receive financial aid. Currently, less than 1 percent of all public university students in Georgia are undocumented. The rule even bars students with legal status granted under the federal Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA). The dozens of Georgia students who qualify for legal status under DACA have sued the Board of Regents.

Nearly half of all states have passed a version of a DREAM Act, which requires public universities to admit undocumented students and, in some cases, charge the significantly more affordable in-state tuition to those students who had gone to high school in the state. In March, Florida passed a bill that extended in-state tuition rates to undocumented students who were enrolled four straight years at a Florida high school.

Tuesday's protests were part of a larger civil and economic rights movement throughout many Southern states known as Moral Mondays.

Students are being arrested for demanding equal access to education in GA. Shame on @BORUSG! #LiftBan #GAInState pic.twitter.com/Ol8QXNzgI1

— Georgia Dreamers (@GADreamers) May 20, 2014