The Justice Department has now filed 17 lawsuits challenging state tuition benefits for illegal aliens, and says it will continue until American citizens are no longer treated as second-class students.
The Trump Justice Department is turning up the heat on three more Democrat-run states accused of placing illegal aliens ahead of American citizens.
On Monday, the Department of Justice filed lawsuits against New York, Connecticut, and Vermont, challenging state laws that provide qualifying illegal aliens with in-state tuition rates, financial assistance, and scholarships unavailable on the same terms to American citizens living outside those states.
The DOJ alleges that the blue-state programs violate federal law, encourage illegal immigration, and force American students to compete under a system tilted against them.
Let that sink in: An American citizen living across the state line may be charged the full out-of-state tuition rate while someone unlawfully present in the country can qualify for taxpayer-supported benefits based on state residency.
In New York, the average in-state tuition and fees run about $8,300 while out-of-state students pay more than double. Connecticut and Vermont have long maintained similar two-tier systems that favor those who broke federal immigration law over American families from neighboring states.
According to the Justice Department, that arrangement directly conflicts with 8 U.S.C. § 1623. The federal statute generally prohibits states from awarding residence-based higher-education benefits to aliens who are not lawfully present unless the same benefits are available to U.S. citizens regardless of where they live.
Hellbound and Down 