Out of state American citizens have to pay higher tuition than illegals, according to the lawsuit.
By Catholics for Catholics
The Department of Justice sued the state of California in federal court, asserting that granting in-state college tuition to illegal students is unauthorized and discriminates against Americans from out of state who pay higher fees.
Filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California, the complaint is the most recent action by the Trump administration against California. It is the third suit filed by the Justice Department against the state in a week, Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a statement, according to Newsmax.
“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,” the government said in the complaint. “There are no exceptions.”
The DOJ complaint refers to California’s exemption from out-of-state rates for applicants, including illegal students, who have graduated from the state’s high schools or meet education prerequisites at other establishments in the state. It requests the court to declare this rule unconstitutional and null and void, and to bar the defendants from applying it.
The lawsuit names Gov. Gavin Newsom, Attorney General Rob Bonta, the University of California Board of Regents, the California State University Board of Trustees, and the California Community Colleges Board of Governors as defendants.
“These laws unconstitutionally discriminate against U.S. citizens who are not afforded the same reduced tuition rates, scholarships, or subsidies, create incentives for illegal immigration, and reward illegal immigrants with benefits that U.S. citizens are not eligible for, all in direct conflict with federal law,” said the DOJ in a statement.
California officials countered by calling the lawsuit politically driven. University leaders said they follow state and federal law and deem their policies comply with current legal standards.
The DOJ challenge focuses on California Assembly Bill 540, passed in 2001, which grants in-state tuition to eligible students who attended a California high school for the required years, including undocumented students, as well as U.S. citizens who graduated from California high schools but moved out of state before enrolling in college.
A spokesperson for Newsom said: “The DOJ has now filed three meritless, politically motivated lawsuits against California in a single week. We’ll see you in court.”
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