The federal government has filed more lawsuits challenging states that allow illegal immigrants access to in-state college tuition, this time in Arizona, New Mexico, Oregon, and Washington.
There are now 21 states facing similar lawsuits brought by the U.S. Department of Justice, which cites federal law barring states from making illegal alien students eligible for in-state tuition unless they offer in-state tuition to all U.S. citizens regardless of state residency.
“Over 30 years ago, Congress made clear that States cannot put illegal aliens before our Nation’s own citizens,” DOJ Associate Attorney General Stanley E. Woodward, Jr. said in a statement “By granting illegal aliens in-state tuition, Washington, Oregon, New Mexico, and Arizona are pushing citizens to the side and ignoring federal law. No more.”
“As of today, we have now sued 21 states who we allege were thwarting Congress’s clear prohibition on placing aliens over citizens,” he added. “Our efforts will not cease until President Trump’s promise is fulfilled: illegal aliens will not receive benefits denied to American citizens.”
In Arizona, voters passed Proposition 308 in 2022, which allows non-citizen students access to in-state tuition so long as they attended school in the state for a minimum of two years and graduated.
In a document found on the Arizona Secretary of State’s website, SOS Kris Mayes argued, “Because Proposition 308 confers no eligibility for a postsecondary education benefit on the basis of residence—and instead uses other criteria—it is consistent with” federal law.
The DOJ’s lawsuit argues that the state law’s “extension of eligibility for postsecondary education benefits to illegal aliens is unconstitutional and must yield to federal law” due to the U.S. Constitution’s Supremacy Clause.
It also cites research that estimated 3,600 students who don’t have legal status could get access to in-state tuition each year.
“This is a simple matter of federal law: colleges cannot provide benefits to illegal aliens that they do not provide to U.S. citizens,” DHS Assistant Attorney General Brett A. Shumate added. “This Department of Justice will not tolerate American students being treated like second-class citizens in their own country.”
The DOJ said at least five other lawsuits – in Texas, Kentucky, Oklahoma, Nebraska and Illinois – “resulted [in] favorable orders.”
There are pending lawsuits in Minnesota, Virginia, California, New Jersey, Kansas, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Maryland, Colorado, New York, Connecticut and Vermont, the agency said.
