US Justice Department challenges 4 more states over in-state tuition for immigrants

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Justice on Thursday sued Arizona, New Mexico, Oregon and Washington over laws that allow immigrants in the country without legal status to pay in-state college tuition in the states where they live.

President Donald Trump’s administration has now sued 21 states over such laws, which enable noncitizen students who meet certain requirements access to in-state tuition at public colleges and universities, regardless of their immigration status. 

The lawsuits argue that these policies allow students without legal status to pay drastically lower tuition for public education than U.S. citizens from other states. They also come as the administration aims to curb benefits that could be extended to immigrants more broadly. 

“Over 30 years ago, Congress made clear that States cannot put illegal aliens before our Nation’s own citizens,” Associate Attorney General Stanley E. Woodward Jr. said in a statement announcing the four additional lawsuits. “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.”

Advocates for the policy of allowing in-state tuition regardless of immigration status say it does not bestow any advantages not available to the students’ peers in their home states. 

Meanwhile, in five of the DOJ’s lawsuits — against Texas, Kentucky, Nebraska, Oklahoma and Illinois — courts have already struck down the state laws. Illinois was the only one of those states that did not join with the federal government but instead defended its laws.

Lawsuits are also pending in California, Colorado, Connecticut, Kansas, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont and Virginia.