The Department of Justice has filed a lawsuit against California laws providing in-state tuition, scholarships, and subsidized loans for illegal immigrants. Similar tuition lawsuits have been filed against Texas, Kentucky, Illinois, Oklahoma, and Minnesota.
The lawsuit targets Governor Gavin Newsom, California Attorney General Rob Bonta, and the Regents of the University of California, the Board of Trustees of the California State University, and the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges.
According to the filing, the California Education Code “extends eligibility for in-state tuition benefits at state postsecondary educational institutions, including resident tuition, scholarships, and subsidized loans, to illegal aliens, while requiring U.S. citizens from other states to pay higher tuition rates.” The filing describes the “unequal treatment” as being “squarely prohibited and preempted by federal law.”
The lawsuit further condemns policies under the California Dream Act. Some sections of the law exempt “illegal aliens from paying nonresident tuition, they also unlawfully make illegal aliens eligible for a benefit that is not similarly made available to U.S. citizens.”
“California is illegally discriminating against American students and families by offering exclusive tuition benefits for non-citizens,” said Attorney General Pam Bondi. “This marks our third lawsuit against California in one week — we will continue bringing litigation against California until the state ceases its flagrant disregard for federal law.”
The lawsuit comes as President Trump signed executive orders aimed at restricting benefits for illegal immigrants. One order, “Protecting American Communities From Criminal Aliens,” calls for officials to “take appropriate action to stop the enforcement of State and local laws, regulations, policies, and practices favoring aliens over any groups of American citizens that are unlawful, preempted by Federal law, or otherwise unenforceable, including State laws that provide in-State higher education tuition to aliens but not to out-of-State American citizens.” Another order, “Ending Taxpayer Subsidization of Open Borders,” aimed to “prevent taxpayer resources from acting as a magnet and fueling illegal immigration to the United States.”
