DOJ sues New York, Connecticut, Vermont over giving in-state college tuition to illegal immigrants

The Trump administration sued New York, Connecticut, and Vermont on Monday over state programs that give illegal immigrants access to in-state college tuition and financial aid while some American citizens are required to pay higher rates.

The Department of Justice filed three lawsuits challenging the states’ tuition, scholarship, and financial assistance programs, arguing that they violate federal law by providing benefits based on state residency to illegal immigrants without making the same benefits available to US citizens regardless of where they live.

“Congress long ago made clear that States cannot put illegal aliens over our Nation’s own citizens,” Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward said. “By granting illegal aliens in-state tuition, New York, Vermont, and Connecticut are doing just that. No more,” he added.

Woodward said the DOJ has now sued every state within the Second Circuit that maintains such policies. “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,” Woodward said.

Assistant Attorney General Brett Shumate said, “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.”

The DOJ is asking federal courts to block the three states from enforcing laws and policies that allow illegal immigrants who satisfy state residency requirements to receive in-state tuition. The lawsuits also target state financial aid and scholarship programs available to illegal immigrants.

The three lawsuits are the latest in a nationwide Trump administration crackdown on state programs providing illegal immigrants with tuition benefits unavailable to some American citizens.

The DOJ sued Kentucky officials in June 2025 over the state’s in-state tuition policy and filed a similar lawsuit against Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and other state officials days later. The administration has since scored victories in several of the cases. A federal appeals court in July upheld the blocking of Texas’ Dream Act, which had allowed qualifying illegal immigrants to receive resident tuition rates at the state’s public colleges and universities.

Later that month, a federal judge struck down Illinois laws providing illegal immigrants with in-state tuition and state financial aid, declaring the challenged provisions unconstitutional and invalid.

The new filings bring the Trump administration’s total number of lawsuits challenging in-state tuition benefits for illegal immigrants to 17, according to the DOJ. The department said previous cases involving Texas, Kentucky, Oklahoma, Nebraska, and Illinois have resulted in favorable orders blocking similar policies, while additional challenges remain pending across the country.