The Trump administration’s Department of Justice has won court decisions ending in-state college tuition discounts for illegal immigrants in six states, part of a broader legal campaign against roughly two dozen states over the practice.
Texas, Kentucky, Oklahoma, Nebraska, Illinois and, most recently, Kansas have all been forced by court rulings to stop offering lower, in-state tuition rates to illegal immigrants and their children who are not state residents. The DOJ lost a similar case in Minnesota, but that ruling is now under appeal to the 8th Circuit.
A larger group of states still has the tuition policy in place, including Washington, Oregon, California, Nevada, Utah, New Mexico, Louisiana, Mississippi, Pennsylvania and West Virginia. The DOJ has sued most of these states as well.
In August, the DOJ announced it was suing 21 states over the practice. Cases remain ongoing in Minnesota, Virginia, California, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Maryland, Colorado, New York, Connecticut, Vermont, Arizona, New Mexico, Oregon and Washington.
The legal argument
Federal law bars states from offering benefits to non-citizens that are not equally available to American citizens. Many states enacted in-state tuition laws for illegal immigrants despite this restriction, apparently on the assumption that the federal government would not challenge the practice.
Associate Attorney General Stanley E. Woodward, Jr. said in an August DOJ statement: “Over 30 years ago, Congress made clear that States cannot put illegal aliens before our Nation’s own citizens. 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. Our efforts will not cease until President Trump’s promise is fulfilled: illegal aliens will not receive benefits denied to American citizens.”
Assistant Attorney General Brett A. Shumate of the Justice Department’s Civil Division added: “This is a simple matter of federal law: colleges cannot provide benefits to illegal aliens that they do not provide to U.S. citizens. This Department of Justice will not tolerate American students being treated like second-class citizens in their own country.”
