Today, the Department of Justice sued Colorado for placing illegal aliens over American citizens in clear defiance of Congress’s commands, challenging its state laws that provide in-state tuition and financial aid to illegal aliens. The Department’s complaint alleges that Colorado’s in-state tuition laws unconstitutionally discriminate against U.S. citizens who are not afforded the same reduced tuition rates or scholarships, create incentives for illegal immigration, and reward illegal aliens for breaking our Nation’s laws with benefits that U.S. citizens are not eligible for, all in direct conflict with federal law.
“For three decades Congress has made clear that states cannot provide education benefits to illegal aliens unless those same benefits are available to all American citizens,” said Associate Attorney General Stanley E. Woodward, Jr. “By granting illegal aliens in-state tuition, Colorado is violating federal law and subsidizing education for illegal aliens at the taxpayers’ expense. This Department will not cease until President Trump’s promise is fulfilled: illegal aliens will not receive benefits denied to our Nation’s own citizens.”
“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.”
In the complaint , the United States seeks to enjoin enforcement of Colorado statutes that require colleges and universities to provide in-state tuition rates for all aliens who maintain in-state residency, regardless of whether those aliens are lawfully present in the United States. Additionally, the complaint seeks to enjoin Colorado from enforcing those laws to afford financial assistance and scholarships to illegal aliens.
Today marks the Department’s 14th lawsuit challenging in-state tuition for illegal aliens. The Department’s efforts have already delivered wins for the American people, as four similar lawsuits in Texas , Kentucky , Oklahoma , and Nebraska have resulted favorable orders permanently enjoining and declaring unconstitutional analogous laws that gave reduced tuition to illegal aliens, including an order from the Fifth Circuit . Lawsuits against other states that similarly put illegal aliens ahead of U.S. citizens are pending across the country in Illinois , Minnesota , Virginia , California , New Jersey , Kansas , Massachusetts , Rhode Island , and Maryland .