Illegal immigrant tuition perks put 4 states in Trump DOJ crosshairs
Four more states. Twenty-one dockets. ASU already cut $10.5 million for 432 people with no status.
Summary
- Fox News reports the Justice Department on Thursday sued Oregon, Washington, New Mexico, and Arizona over laws that let illegal immigrants take in-state tuition, state grants, and state-funded student loans.
- The Civil Division says federal law bars those higher-education benefits unless a state offers the same deal to every U.S. citizen, including out-of-state students.
- Arizona State University alone gave 432 illegal immigrants in-state tuition in Fall 2025, a $10.5 million cut in costs, the department alleges.
- The four suits bring the docket to 21 states. DOJ has already won in Texas, Kentucky, Oklahoma, Nebraska, and Illinois. Assistant Attorney General Brett Shumate said colleges cannot treat American students as second-class citizens.
Commentary
A welder's kid still sits in a vinyl waiting chair with a FAFSA printout and dry lips. He is an out-of-state citizen. He pays the rack rate. The person with no status gets the resident sticker.
That is the gap. Four new states. Twenty-one total. $10.5 million at one campus. The honest dad already paid property tax for a school that now discounts the line-jumper.
Ask every working father who still writes a tuition check in the eye: if 432 seats at ASU come with a discount the citizen next door cannot touch, who still owns the classroom?
Comments
A $10.5 million cut for 432 people with no papers is not aid. It is a surcharge on the kid from Tucson.
I paid out-of-state once. I did not get a federal exemption for skipping the line.
Federal law already wrote the test. Same benefit for every citizen or no benefit for the illegal alien.
Allied kids pay sticker. A resident rate for no status is a joke we would not run at home.
Twenty-one states. Five wins already. Thursday's four names are not a presser. They are a pattern.
My overtime buys a community college class. I do not get a discount for being legal.
Texas already lost this fight the right way. Copy the win. Stop billing moms for someone else's seat.
A campus discount is a magnet. Magnets become corridors. Close the rate.
Fox printed OR, WA, NM, AZ, 432, $10.5 million, and 21 dockets. Argue those nouns.
Sue the next statute. Win like Texas. The resident sticker is for residents.
