The Trump administration filed a federal suit Thursday against California and its public university systems, alleging the practice of offering in-state college tuition rates to undocumented immigrants who graduate from California high schools is illegal.
The suit, which named Gov. Gavin Newsom, state Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta, the UC Board of Regents, the Cal State University Board of Trustees and the Board of Governors for the California Community Colleges, also seeks to end provisions in the California Dream Act that allow students who lack documentation to apply for state-funded financial aid.
“California is illegally discriminating against American students and families by offering exclusive tuition benefits for non-citizens,” U.S. Atty. Gen. Pam Bondi said in a Department of Justice statement, saying the state has a “flagrant disregard for federal law.”
“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,” the statement said.
Newsom spokesperson Izzy Gardon said that “the DOJ has now filed three meritless, politically motivated lawsuits against California in a single week. Good luck, Trump. We’ll see you in court.” The other suits are against the Proposition 50 redistricting effort and a state law banning federal immigration agents from hiding their identities with masks.
Spokespersons for Bonta and CSU declined to comment, saying they had not seen copies of the complaint.
UC spokesperson Rachel Zaentz said the university follows “state and federal laws regarding eligibility for in-state tuition, financial aid, and scholarships.”
“While we will, of course, comply with the law as determined by the courts, we believe our policies and practices are consistent with current legal standards,” Zaentz said.
The tuition suit targets Assembly Bill 540, which passed with bipartisan support in 2001 and offers in-state tuition rates to undocumented students who completed high school in California. The law also offers in-state tuition to U.S. citizens who graduated from California schools but moved out of the state before enrolling in college.
Between 2,000 and 4,000 students attending the University of California — with its total enrollment of nearly 296,000 — are estimated to be undocumented. Across California State University campuses, there are about 9,500 immigrants without documentation enrolled out of 461,000 students. The state’s biggest undocumented group, estimated to be 70,000, are community college students.
The Trump administration’s challenge to California’s tuition statute focuses on a 1996 federal law that says people in the U.S. without legal permission should “not be eligible on the basis of residence within a state … for any post-secondary education benefit unless a citizen or national of the United States is eligible for such a benefit … without regard to whether the citizen or national is such a resident.”
Critics say the law does not speak specifically to tuition rates. Some courts have interpreted the word “benefit” to include cheaper tuition.
Scholars have also debated whether the federal law affects California tuition rates because it applies to citizens and noncitizens alike.
The California law has withstood earlier challenges. The state Supreme Court upheld it in 2010 after out-of-state students sued. The U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal of the case.
In those cases, judges said undocumented immigrants were not receiving preferential treatment because of their immigration status but because they attended and graduated from California schools. They said U.S. citizens who graduated from the state’s schools had the same opportunity.
Thursday’s complaint was filed in the Eastern District of California. It follows actions the Trump administration has taken against tuition practices in Texas, Kentucky, Illinois, Oklahoma and Minnesota.
In June, after the Trump administration sued over the law in Texas, the state agreed to stop giving in-state tuition to undocumented immigrant students.
