The U.S. Department of Justice has filed lawsuits against New York, Connecticut and Vermont over state laws requiring colleges and universities to offer in-state tuition to illegal immigrants who establish residency there, according to a DOJ press release cited in the source material.
The lawsuits mark the latest move in a broader federal challenge to state tuition policies. The DOJ said it has sued 17 states in total and has already secured permanent injunctions against similar policies in Texas, Kentucky, Oklahoma, Nebraska and Illinois.
DOJ Points to Federal Law
Assistant Attorney General Brett A. Shumate framed the cases as a straightforward federal-law issue.
“This is a simple matter of federal law: colleges cannot provide benefits to illegal aliens that they do not provide to U.S. citizens,” Shumate said, according to the DOJ release. “This Department of Justice will not tolerate American students being treated like second-class citizens in their own country.”
The lawsuits cite 8 U.S.C. § 1623(a), which bars an alien who is not lawfully present in the United States from receiving a postsecondary education benefit based on state residency unless a U.S. citizen or national is eligible for the same benefit “without regard to” residency.
According to the DOJ, the challenged laws “unconstitutionally discriminate against U.S. citizens who are not afforded the same reduced tuition rates or scholarships, create incentives for illegal immigration, and reward illegal aliens with benefits that U.S. citizens are not eligible for.”
The Dispute Behind In-State Tuition
The source article, written by Joshua Arnold, a senior writer at The Washington Stand, described the dispute as a clash over justice and citizenship. Arnold argued that states defending such policies seek to treat people within their borders equally, while critics say the result is unfair to U.S. citizens and legal immigrants from other states who may not qualify for the same lower rates.
Arnold also argued that in-state tuition traditionally serves state residents by making college more affordable, encouraging students to remain local and returning benefits to taxpayers who support public universities.
The DOJ’s position is that states may not use residency to extend tuition benefits to illegal immigrants while denying comparable benefits to U.S. citizens from outside the state. The outcome of the new cases will determine whether courts apply the same reasoning used in the earlier injunctions to New York, Connecticut and Vermont.
