The Trump administration announced on Monday that the Department of Justice filed lawsuits against Connecticut, New York, and Vermont for permitting undocumented students to pay in-state tuition at colleges and universities. Officials from the Justice Department’s Civil Division argued that federal law prohibits educational institutions from offering benefits to undocumented immigrants that are not provided to U.S. citizens.
Assistant Attorney General Brett A. Shumate stated in a news release that the department would not accept what it characterized as American citizens being treated as second-class citizens within their own country. Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward added that the Justice Department had now sued every state within the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit that seeks to provide such tuition benefits to undocumented students.
The latest lawsuits bring the total number of cases filed by the federal government against states with in-state tuition policies to 17. Several states, including Nebraska, Oklahoma, and Texas, discontinued their programs after federal pressure. Minnesota successfully defended its policy in federal court this spring, though the Justice Department has appealed that decision. A federal judge recently ruled in favor of the government in Illinois. Officials indicated that legal action would continue until undocumented immigrants are barred from receiving any educational benefits not available to American citizens.
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