Arizona State University gave illegal immigrants $10.5 million in tuition discounts in a single year.
That figure comes from a new Department of Justice lawsuit, one of four filed Friday targeting states that grant in-state tuition rates to people who entered the country illegally. The total number of states now facing federal litigation stands at 21.
The states named include Texas, California, New York, Illinois, Colorado, Virginia, Minnesota, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Kansas, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Maryland, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Vermont, Washington, Oregon, New Mexico, and Arizona. In each of those states, an illegal immigrant can attend a public university at the same subsidized tuition rate available to legal residents, while an American student from a neighboring state pays full out-of-state tuition.
As originally reported, the federal law at the center of these lawsuits has existed since 1996. The statute, 8 U.S.C. Section 1623, explicitly bars states from granting illegal immigrants any postsecondary education benefit that is not equally available to all American citizens. States have been sidestepping it for decades.
Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward addressed the lawsuits directly. “Over 30 years ago, Congress made clear that states cannot put illegal aliens before our nation’s own citizens,” Woodward said. “By granting illegal aliens in-state tuition, Washington, Oregon, New Mexico, and Arizona are pushing citizens to the side and ignoring federal law. No more.”
The practical consequence is not a small one. A student from Kansas attending the University of Colorado pays full out-of-state rates. An illegal immigrant at the same school does not. That gap can represent tens of thousands of dollars per year. Across 21 states and hundreds of public universities, that adds up to an enormous annual subsidy funded by American taxpayers.
The DOJ stated that the lawsuits will continue until the law is enforced uniformly. Woodward confirmed the effort will not end until “President Trump’s promise is fulfilled: illegal aliens will not receive benefits denied to American citizens.”
The argument behind the policy is not complicated. Public universities have a limited number of seats. When those seats are filled at subsidized rates by people who are in the country illegally, American students compete at a financial disadvantage, including lower-income Americans whose families paid the taxes that fund those institutions. A university collecting in-state tuition from an illegal immigrant is collecting less revenue than it would from an out-of-state American, which means fewer resources available for American scholarships and programs.
Arizona State’s $10.5 million figure makes the scale concrete. That money, distributed as tuition discounts to illegal immigrants in a single year at a single university, could have funded scholarships for Arizona residents.
Four new lawsuits were filed Friday. The total is now 21 states. The DOJ says it is not finished.