By The Epoch Times | Created at 2026-08-10 20:26:59 | Updated at 2026-08-10 21:18:26
1 hour ago
The Department of Justice (DOJ) filed lawsuits against Connecticut, New York, and Vermont Aug. 10, saying those states are violating federal laws by providing in-state tuition and financial assistance to illegal immigrants.
The three states, all of which have expansive public college and university systems funded mostly by taxpaying residents, have allegedly maintained their own laws that unconstitutionally discriminate against U.S. citizens, who are not afforded the same reduced tuition rates or scholarships, according to the DOJ. They also allegedly create incentives for illegal immigrants and “reward illegal aliens with benefits that U.S. citizens are not eligible for,” Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward said in an Aug. 10 news release.
“Congress long ago made clear that states cannot put illegal aliens over our nation’s own citizens,” he said, adding that this lawsuit covers all three states within the federal Second Circuit court.
“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.”
The federal agency has now filed 17 lawsuits challenging in-state tuition for illegal immigrants, Woodward said.
The DOJ prevailed in prior lawsuits in Texas, Kentucky, Oklahoma, Nebraska, and Illinois, he said, while litigation in Minnesota, Virginia, California, New Jersey, Kansas, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Maryland, and Colorado is pending.
The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act and the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act prohibit states from offering in-state tuition rates to illegal immigrants unless that same benefit is extended to all U.S. citizens, regardless of residency, the lawsuit notes.
Annual tuition for in-state residents at several Connecticut public colleges is $6,998, compared to $20,938 for out-of-state residents. For community colleges there, the in-state rate is $192 per credit hour, while the out-of-state rate is $578, the federal complaint stated.
Connecticut state law entitles students to the in-state rates if they graduated from high school in the Constitution State or completed at least two years of high school there, according to the lawsuit, which also identifies several financial programs in that state university system that have awarded money to low-income illegal immigrants.
“This is a simple matter of federal law: colleges cannot provide benefits to illegal aliens that they do not provide to U.S. citizens,” said Assistant Attorney General Brett A. Shumate of the Justice Department’s Civil Division. “This Department of Justice will not tolerate American students being treated like second-class citizens in their own country.”
The Epoch Times reached out to New York, Connecticut, and Vermont’s public higher education systems for comment.
Several Republican-run states already limit the in-state benefit to U.S. citizens or legal permanent residents, while other states—a combination of blue and red—offer it to students who illegally entered the country before age 16 and have continually attended school.
Alabama, Georgia, and South Carolina prohibit public colleges from admitting students who are illegal immigrants, according to the nonprofit Higher Ed Immigration Portal.
About 62 percent of the nation’s foreign-born population live in states with “tuition-equity” laws, according to a 2025 report from the National Immigration Law Center.
The report also said that more than a million illegal immigrants are enrolled at U.S. colleges and universities, both public and private.
