The Trump administration is escalating its legal fight over college benefits for illegal immigrants, filing lawsuits Tuesday against New York, Connecticut, and Vermont over their policies offering in-state tuition and financial assistance to undocumented students.
The Department of Justice (DOJ) lawsuits, announced by Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward, argue that the three states are violating federal law by providing benefits to illegal aliens that are denied to American citizens. The suits ask a federal court to block the states from continuing the policies, which include reduced tuition rates, scholarships, and other financial aid.
“Congress long ago made clear that States cannot put illegal aliens over our nation’s own citizens,” Woodward said in a statement. “By granting illegal aliens in-state tuition, New York, Vermont, and Connecticut are doing just that. No more. As of today, we have now sued every state in the Second Circuit that seeks to thwart Congress’s clear prohibition by placing alien over citizen. And our efforts will not cease until President Trump’s promise is fulfilled: illegal aliens will not receive benefits denied to our Nation’s own citizens.”
DOJ: Policies Discriminate Against American Students
The lawsuits specifically allege that the in-state tuition and financial assistance programs in the three states unlawfully discriminate against U.S. citizens by denying them the same reduced tuition and scholarship opportunities that are available to illegal aliens.
“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 Brett A. Shumate, a deputy assistant attorney general in the Civil Division. “This Department of Justice will not tolerate American students being treated like second-class citizens in their own country.”
The DOJ is seeking injunctions to halt the policies in all three states, which would affect public colleges and universities that currently offer in-state tuition rates to undocumented residents.
Part of Broader Enforcement Push
Tuesday’s actions are not the first of their kind. According to the DOJ, the administration has already won cases against Texas, Oklahoma, Kentucky, Illinois, and Nebraska for similar in-state tuition policies favoring illegal aliens.
The lawsuits against the Second Circuit states—New York, Connecticut, and Vermont—mean the DOJ has now targeted every state in that federal appellate circuit with such policies, signaling a broader strategy to enforce what the administration views as a clear federal prohibition.
The legal basis for the suits appears to rest on federal immigration statutes that generally bar states from providing postsecondary education benefits to undocumented immigrants unless they offer the same benefits to U.S. citizens. The DOJ argues that by offering in-state tuition exclusively to illegal aliens without extending the same rate to all citizens, the states are running afoul of that requirement.
Critics of the administration’s approach have previously argued that in-state tuition policies are matters of state discretion and that the federal government is overstepping. However, the DOJ’s track record of winning similar cases suggests the courts have sided with the federal interpretation so far.
The litigation could have significant implications for thousands of undocumented students currently enrolled in public colleges in the three states, as well as for state budgets that rely on tuition revenue. A court order blocking the policies would likely force the states to either raise tuition for undocumented students to out-of-state rates or extend in-state rates to all U.S. citizens, a potentially costly change.
The DOJ’s announcement did not specify a timeline for hearings, but the cases are expected to proceed in federal district courts within the Second Circuit. The administration’s statement vowed that “our efforts will not cease” until the president’s promise is fulfilled, leaving open the possibility of further lawsuits against other states with similar policies.
As of now, the states have not publicly responded to the lawsuits, but legal challenges are expected as they defend their tuition policies.
Source: www.breitbart.com — https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2026/08/11/trumps-doj-sues-new-york-connecticut-vermont-giving-in-state-tuition-illegal-aliens/