DOJ Sues California to Stop Taxpayer-Funded Tuition for Illegal Aliens
Federal law prohibits illegal aliens from receiving in-state tuition benefits that are denied to out-of-state U.S. citizens. There are no exceptions.
The U.S. Department of Justice is suing Governor Gavin Newsom to stop in-state tuition breaks for illegals in California—the latest target of its crackdown on these unlawful incentives to illegal immigration.
California laws provide in-state tuition, scholarships, and subsidized loans for illegal aliens—benefits denied to U.S. citizens from other states.
That’s discrimination against our own citizenry, and it’s unconstitutional. Federal law prohibits aliens illegally present in the United States from receiving in-state tuition benefits that are denied to out-of-state U.S. citizens. There are no exceptions, the government’s lawsuit states.
The DOJ complaint filed yesterday in the Eastern District of California names the State of California, Governor Newsom, the State Attorney General, 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.
The government asks the court to block the enforcement of California law requiring colleges and universities to provide in-state tuition rates for all aliens who maintain California residency, regardless of whether those aliens are lawfully present in the United States. It also seeks to enjoin the state from enforcing the “California Dream Act” which affords scholarships and subsidized loans to illegal aliens—but not to U.S. citizens.
The DOJ filing follows two executive orders signed by President Trump earlier this year: “Ending Taxpayer Subsidization of Open Borders,” to ensure that no taxpayer-funded benefits go to unqualified aliens; and “Protecting American Communities From Criminal Aliens,” to overturn state laws like the one in California that offer in-state education tuition to aliens but not to out-of-state American citizens.
California is now the sixth state to be sued in the Trump administration’s ongoing battle to end the unlawful tuition benefits, originally offered in over 20 states.
Over 20 states offer in-state college tuition to illegals – a benefit denied US citizens from other states
The @TheJusticeDept is going after them.
First it sued Texas – and ended the program within hours.
Then it sued Kentucky.
Now it's suing Minnesota: pic.twitter.com/72DCWEUDce
— Jane Coleman (@JaneBColeman) June 25, 2025
Texas and Oklahoma both halted their in-state tuition programs for illegals shortly after the DOJ challenged them, as we reported earlier here and here.
Kentucky had reached a tentative agreement with the DOJ to end its in-state tuition benefits. However, earlier this week, a U.S. District Court granted a subsequent request by the Kentucky Students for Affordable Tuition to intervene in the case, putting the settlement on hold, the Kentucky Lantern reports.
And in Illinois, to no surprise, Governor Pritzker is pushing back against the administration’s challenge to its taxpayer-funded tuition breaks for illegals.
Settlement also seems unlikely in Governor Newsom’s California, where the DOJ is on the warpath. Yesterday’s court filing marks its third lawsuit against California in one week, Attorney General Pamela Bondi said yesterday in a press release, vowing to keep suing the state until it stops breaking federal law.
Featured image via YouTube.
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Comments
It’s disgraceful that we have to sue a state to simply get them to follow the law.
How else can it be done? That’s like saying it’s disgraceful that we have to prosecute criminals, and they don’t just obey the law on their own.
so then why not prison time for him!?
he knowingly broke the law…again
Sigh. You are assuming that all areas within the borders of our country subscribe to the concept of “equal justice under the law”. Theoretically, yes. In fact, no. Aside from the national functional immunity of all our Nomenklatura from enforcement of the law regardless of party, there is the matter that Leftist states view themselves as being outside Federal law whenever they want to be. In California, catering to hostile foreign invaders is a higher priority than taking care of legal American citizens. This is one of the matters that is going to have to be settled soon. I have no objection to the prison time solution you note.
Subotai Bahadur
Prison time for whom, and for what? There is no crime here. California is (not Newsome) is simply violating a federal law, so the DOJ is suing it to make it stop. That’s all. There’s no prospect of anyone getting prison time.
didnt 6 dems just tell their people
to not follow laws THEY find wrong ( stated as “refuse illegal orders)
yes,,yes they did
Well, they’re not following THAT one, so there ya go.
No, they didn’t. They said that the military SHOULD follow the law, by refusing unlawful orders, which is their legal DUTY. Of course the military would certainly refuse any such orders, were they to be given. But there’s no prospect of them being given, and the Dems’ whole purpose in making their statement was to create the false impression that such a thing is likely to happen.
Now do New Mexico.
It’s illegal, but it’s not unconstitutional. Nothing in the constitution would prohibit states from doing this; federal law does. If Congress were to change its mind and repeal that law, then what CA is doing would become legal.