The Justice Department has now filed 17 lawsuits challenging state tuition benefits for illegal aliens, and says it will continue until American citizens are no longer treated as second-class students.
The Trump Justice Department is turning up the heat on three more Democrat-run states accused of placing illegal aliens ahead of American citizens.
On Monday, the Department of Justice filed lawsuits against New York, Connecticut, and Vermont, challenging state laws that provide qualifying illegal aliens with in-state tuition rates, financial assistance, and scholarships unavailable on the same terms to American citizens living outside those states.
The DOJ alleges that the blue-state programs violate federal law, encourage illegal immigration, and force American students to compete under a system tilted against them.
Let that sink in: An American citizen living across the state line may be charged the full out-of-state tuition rate while someone unlawfully present in the country can qualify for taxpayer-supported benefits based on state residency.
In New York, the average in-state tuition and fees run about $8,300 while out-of-state students pay more than double. Connecticut and Vermont have long maintained similar two-tier systems that favor those who broke federal immigration law over American families from neighboring states.
According to the Justice Department, that arrangement directly conflicts with 8 U.S.C. § 1623. The federal statute generally prohibits states from awarding residence-based higher-education benefits to aliens who are not lawfully present unless the same benefits are available to U.S. citizens regardless of where they live.
“Congress long ago made clear that States cannot put illegal aliens over our Nation’s own citizens,” Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward said.
Woodward declared that the administration has now sued every state in the Second Circuit—New York, Connecticut, and Vermont—that maintains such a program. He said the department’s campaign will continue until President Trump’s promise is fulfilled and illegal aliens no longer receive benefits denied to American citizens.
Assistant Attorney General Brett Shumate called the cases a straightforward matter of federal law and said the Justice Department would not permit American students to be treated as second-class citizens in their own country.
The federal government is asking courts to block the three states from enforcing laws, regulations, and policies that make illegal aliens eligible for reduced tuition, scholarships, or other financial assistance based on state residency.
The DOJ says its nationwide campaign has already produced favorable orders involving Texas, Kentucky, Oklahoma, Nebraska, and Illinois. Similar cases remain pending in Minnesota, Virginia, California, New Jersey, Kansas, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Maryland, and Colorado.
As The Gateway Pundit previously reported, U.S. District Judge David Dugan recently struck down multiple Illinois provisions granting illegal aliens access to in-state tuition, financial aid, and scholarship programs.
The Illinois court concluded that federal law does not permit a state to treat American citizens worse than illegal aliens when awarding residence-based college benefits. The ruling permanently blocked enforcement of the challenged provisions against aliens who are not lawfully present.
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