The Justice Department filed lawsuits against Connecticut, New York and Vermont, arguing that state policies granting in-state tuition or financial aid to illegal immigrants violate federal law when comparable benefits are not extended to all U.S. citizens.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
The Department of Justice filed lawsuits Monday against Connecticut, New York and Vermont, alleging that the states are violating federal law by offering in-state tuition rates and other higher-education benefits to illegal immigrants that are not equally available to U.S. citizens from other states.
The Aug. 10 actions are based in part on a 1996 federal law that bars public universities from giving illegal immigrants residency-based tuition advantages unless the same reduced rate is made available to U.S. citizens regardless of where they live.
The DOJ alleges that the three states have maintained policies that discriminate against U.S. citizens by allowing some illegal immigrants to qualify for lower tuition rates or financial assistance while charging higher rates to American citizens from outside the state.
Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward said the policies create incentives for illegal immigration and “reward illegal aliens with benefits that U.S. citizens are not eligible for.”
“Congress long ago made clear that states cannot put illegal aliens over our nation’s own citizens,” Woodward said.
He said the latest litigation covers all three states within the federal Second Circuit.
“And our efforts will not cease until President [Donald] Trump’s promise is fulfilled: illegal aliens will not receive benefits denied to our nation’s own citizens.”
Woodward said the Justice Department has now filed 17 lawsuits challenging state tuition benefits for illegal immigrants.
The department has prevailed in previous cases involving Texas, Kentucky, Oklahoma, Nebraska and Illinois, he said.
Litigation remains pending in Minnesota, Virginia, California, New Jersey, Kansas, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Maryland and Colorado.
The federal government’s legal argument relies on the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act and the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act.
According to the complaint, those laws prohibit states from granting in-state tuition benefits to illegal immigrants unless the same benefit is extended to every U.S. citizen without regard to residency.
The Connecticut lawsuit details the financial differences between resident and nonresident tuition.
Annual tuition for in-state students at several Connecticut public colleges is $6,998, compared with $20,938 for students classified as out of state, according to the federal complaint.
At Connecticut community colleges, residents pay $192 per credit hour, while nonresidents pay $578 per credit hour.
Connecticut law allows students to qualify for in-state tuition if they graduated from high school in the state or completed at least two years of high school there, according to the lawsuit.
The complaint also identifies several financial-aid programs within Connecticut’s public university system that have provided money to low-income illegal immigrants.
Assistant Attorney General Brett A. Shumate of the Justice Department’s Civil Division said the cases center on whether states can provide benefits to illegal immigrants that are withheld from U.S. citizens.
“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. “This Department of Justice will not tolerate American students being treated like second-class citizens in their own country.”
The Epoch Times said it contacted the public higher-education systems in New York, Connecticut and Vermont for comment.
State policies on tuition eligibility for illegal immigrants vary widely.
Several Republican-led states restrict in-state tuition benefits to U.S. citizens or legal permanent residents.
Other states, including both Republican- and Democratic-led jurisdictions, extend in-state rates to students who entered the country illegally before age 16 and continuously attended school there.
Alabama, Georgia and South Carolina prohibit public colleges from admitting students who are illegal immigrants, according to the nonprofit Higher Ed Immigration Portal.
A 2025 report from the National Immigration Law Center estimated that about 62% of the nation’s foreign-born population lives in states with so-called “tuition-equity” laws.
The same report estimated that more than 1 million illegal immigrants are enrolled in U.S. colleges and universities, including both public and private institutions.
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