This story was produced in partnership with NOTUS, a publication from the nonprofit, nonpartisan Allbritton Journalism Institute. VTDigger has partnered with NOTUS to cover federal actions affecting Vermont.
The U.S. Department of Justice filed lawsuits against Vermont, Connecticut and New York on Monday for allowing undocumented students to receive in-state tuition — and vowed to keep pushing to end the practice nationwide.
Seventeen states have already faced legal challenges over state laws that give undocumented immigrants access to financial assistance programs.
The DOJ argues that the state programs in question unconstitutionally discriminate against students with U.S. citizenship — although New York, Connecticut and Vermont all offer in-state tuition reductions to all students who meet certain state residency requirements.
“Our efforts will not cease until President Trump’s promise is fulfilled: illegal aliens will not receive benefits denied to our Nation’s own citizens,” Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward said in a statement.
The Trump administration prevailed in some of its prior lawsuits, and multiple states have halted their tuition policies, including Texas, Kentucky, Oklahoma, Nebraska and Illinois.
Some of the lawsuits led to the end of programs started by decades-old state laws, like the Texas Dream Act, which passed with bipartisan support in 2001.
Woodward said the Justice Department has “now sued every state in the Second Circuit that seeks to thwart Congress’s clear prohibition by placing alien over citizen.”
The university systems for New York, Connecticut and Vermont did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the new legal challenges from the Trump administration.
Approximately 2.4% of all students enrolled in U.S. colleges and universities are undocumented, according to an October report from the Higher Ed Immigration Portal. Nearly 28% of those undocumented students are estimated to have or be eligible for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, a program that provides temporary work permits and protection from deportation for individuals who came to the U.S. as children.
