DOJ sues Virginia for offering discounted tuition rates to illegal aliens
The Department of Justice (DOJ) is suing Virginia for providing in-state tuition rates to illegal aliens attending public colleges and universities.
The Department of Justice (DOJ) is suing Virginia for granting in-state tuition to illegal aliens attending public colleges and universities.
The lawsuit alleges that Virginia’s laws “unconstitutionally discriminate against U.S. citizens,” encourage illegal immigration, and conflict with federal law by “rewarding illegal immigrants with benefits that U.S. citizens are not eligible for.”
The DOJ claims these benefits include tuition breaks, scholarships, and other state resources.
[RELATED: Trump signs EO to deter states from offering illegal aliens in-state tuition]
At the University of Virginia, a public institution, the estimated total cost of attendance for an in-state first-year student in the College of Arts and Sciences is $41,000. For out-of-state students, the same program costs $81,000.
That means that an illegal alien who qualifies for in-state tuition pays about half of what an out-of-state American citizen pays for the same program.
Virginia Code §§ 23.1-502 and 23.505.1 allow illegal aliens to receive in-state tuition if they attended a Virginia high school for at least two years or graduated from one, regardless of immigration status.
Additionally, House Bill 1179, signed into law in April 2020, grants in-state tuition to individuals with refugee status or Special Immigrant Visas (SIVs), provided they have lived in Virginia since entering the United States.
[RELATED: Dept. of Justice sues Kentucky over in-state tuition benefits for illegal alien students]
The DOJ argues that Virginia’s laws are preempted by federal law. The Supremacy Clause of the Constitution determines that “federal statutes may preempt state laws and render them ineffective,” according to the lawsuit.
Virginia’s policies allegedly violate the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 and federal immigration law barring states from offering benefits to illegal aliens unless the same benefits are offered to all U.S. citizens.
Currently, there are 13,122 illegal alien students in the higher education system in Virginia, according to the Higher Ed Immigration Portal. There are an estimated 510,000 illegal alien students in the higher education system throughout the country.
