BUZZ
Trump’s first victory against illegal immigrant tuition in blue state
In a historical legal victory, a federal judge struck down several in-state tuition deals that Illinois offers illegal immigrants.
The ruling appears to be the first time a judge has ruled against an adversarial state for discriminating against American students who live outside of Illinois when it comes to tuition.
District Court Judge David Dugan sided with the Trump administration in its lawsuit against Illinois for its tuition breaks for illegal immigrants. At issue is a statute, Section 1623, from the Illegal Immigration Reform and Responsibility Act of 1996.
The Trump administration refused to enforce this law during his first term but now has begun using it. It requires states to offer out-of-state U.S. citizens the same tuition rate given to illegal immigrants if the latter pay in-state tuition.
While the Department of Justice has reached favorable settlements with friendly red state officials to end their illegal tuition deals, this is the first time a judge ruled against a Democrat-run state that was opposing the lawsuit. A federal judge previously ruled in favor of Minnesota’s defense of its law, a The Fix reported.
The ruling strikes down three laws currently in effect. Following the initial lawsuit, Illinois passed a new tuition deal for illegal immigrants. However, this complaint does not include that new law, passed in June 2026 and signed by Democratic Governor J.B. Pritzker.
Illinois can still offer the benefits to illegal immigrants, Judge Dugan ruled, but it must do so in a fair way to Americans.
He wrote:
Under the statute, a state retains multiple choices in structuring its postsecondary education benefits. For instance, a state could decline to condition any such benefits on residence. Section 1623 does not appear to prohibit extending postsecondary tuition benefits to all U.S. citizens and nationals, thereby allowing the state to extend those same
benefits to aliens not lawfully present. Or, a state could deny residence-based benefits to aliens not lawfully present while allowing them for citizens and nationals. Of course, which of these choices best serves Illinois remains a matter of policy well within the purview of the Illinois Legislature
Illinois and its allies tried to block the lawsuit by arguing Section 1623 of the immigration law is unconstitutional. The judge knocked down this argument and sided with the DOJ.
“Put simply, U.S. citizens or nationals must be treated no worse than illegal aliens,” he concluded.
Illinois is expected to appeal the ruling.
Other blue states are facing legal fire from the DOJ. Last week, the Justice Department sued Colorado for its own illegal immigrant tuition scheme as Legal Insurrection reported.
