The Trump administration has opened a new legal front against blue-state policies that prioritize illegal immigrants over American citizens in access to higher education benefits.
According to The Post Millennial, the Department of Justice on Monday filed three separate lawsuits against New York, Connecticut, and Vermont, targeting state programs that grant in-state tuition rates and financial aid to illegal immigrants while some US citizens are forced to pay higher out-of-state costs. Federal officials argue these schemes unlawfully tie benefits to state residency in a way that advantages illegal immigrants over American citizens who live elsewhere, directly contradicting federal law and undermining equal treatment for Americans nationwide.
Congress long ago made clear that States cannot put illegal aliens over our Nations own citizens, Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward said, underscoring the administrations view that these policies invert basic constitutional priorities. By granting illegal aliens in-state tuition, New York, Vermont, and Connecticut are doing just that. No more, he added, signaling that the administration intends to draw a hard line against state-level attempts to extend taxpayer-funded benefits to those in the country unlawfully.
Woodward noted that the Department of Justice has now sued every state within the Second Circuit that maintains such tuition and aid policies favoring illegal immigrants. Our efforts will not cease until President Trumps promise is fulfilled: illegal aliens will not receive benefits denied to our Nations own citizens, Woodward said, framing the litigation as part of a broader effort to restore the rule of law and prioritize American students.
Assistant Attorney General Brett Shumate emphasized that the legal question is straightforward, not ideological. This is a simple matter of federal law: colleges cannot provide benefits to illegal aliens that they do not provide to U.S. citizens. This Department of Justice will not tolerate American students being treated like second-class citizens in their own country, Shumate said, reflecting a core conservative concern that progressive immigration policies are eroding equal rights for citizens.
The lawsuits ask federal courts to bar New York, Connecticut, and Vermont from enforcing statutes and regulations that allow illegal immigrants who meet state residency criteria to receive in-state tuition at public colleges and universities. The filings also seek to halt state-funded financial aid and scholarship programs that extend taxpayer-backed assistance to illegal immigrants while excluding many American citizens.
These three cases mark the latest escalation in a nationwide crackdown by the Trump administration on state-level tuition benefits for illegal immigrants that are not equally available to all US citizens. The DOJ sued Kentucky officials in June 2025 over a similar in-state tuition scheme and filed another lawsuit days later against Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and other state leaders, challenging what conservatives view as a pattern of progressive states privileging non-citizens.
The administration has already secured key victories in this legal campaign, reinforcing its argument that such policies cannot stand under federal law. A federal appeals court in July upheld the blocking of Texas Dream Act, which had allowed qualifying illegal immigrants to pay resident tuition rates at public colleges and universities, and later that month a federal judge struck down Illinois statutes granting in-state tuition and state financial aid to illegal immigrants, declaring those provisions unconstitutional and invalid.
With the latest filings, the Trump administration has now brought 17 lawsuits challenging in-state tuition and related benefits for illegal immigrants, according to the DOJ. Officials say prior cases involving Texas, Kentucky, Oklahoma, Nebraska, and Illinois have already produced favorable orders halting comparable policies, while additional challenges remain pending across the country, setting the stage for a broader national reckoning over whether states may continue to use public resources to reward unlawful presence while many American families struggle to afford college.
Login