The Department of Justice sued the University of Virginia for granting tuition benefits to illegal aliens, arguing the policy discriminates against U.S. citizens from other states.
Virginia law permits individuals who have lived in the state for at least a year to qualify and explicitly bars schools from denying eligibility based on immigration status.
The lawsuit, filed in the Eastern District of Virginia on Monday, says "federal law prohibits States from providing aliens who are not lawfully present in the United States with any postsecondary education benefit that is denied to U.S. citizens."
"This is not only wrong but illegal," read the 13-page complaint. "The challenged act's discriminatory treatment in favor of illegal aliens over U.S. citizens is squarely prohibited and pre-empted by federal law."
The lawsuit marks the latest move by the Trump administration to block states from offering tuition benefits to illegal aliens.
Similar lawsuits were filed against California in November and Illinois in September, both challenging state programs that provided financial aid or tuition benefits to illegal aliens. The DOJ also filed suit against Oklahoma.
The DOJ has reached agreements with three Republican-led states, while Democrat-run Illinois and California continue to fight the legal challenges, The Hill reported.
In June, a federal judge struck down a Texas law that allowed illegal aliens to receive in-state tuition.
In Virginia, then-Gov. Ralph Northam, a Democrat, signed legislation in 2020 allowing illegal aliens to receive in-state tuition. At the time, Northam said the law recognized the students as "Virginians, in every sense of the word, except for their immigration status."
"There are no exceptions. Virginia violates it nonetheless," the lawsuit read. "This court should put an end to this and permanently enjoin the enforcement of provisions of the Virginia Education Code that directly conflict with federal immigration law."
As of September, at least 14 states provided financial aid to students regardless of immigration status, according to the National Immigration Law Center. But a growing number of states are beginning to roll back or rethink those policies.
Mark Swanson ✉
Mark Swanson, a Newsmax writer and editor, has nearly three decades of experience covering news, culture and politics.
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