BUZZ
Out-of-state citizens are not eligible for reduced tuition rate
A federal lawsuit announced Thursday accuses the University of Delaware of discriminating against U.S. citizens through a policy that “grants in-state tuition for illegal aliens while denying reduced tuition” to legal, out-of-state residents.
The U.S. Department of Justice also is suing more than two dozen states over similar in-state tuition laws, but its lawsuit against the University of Delaware is the first of its kind against a public university, the Delaware News Journal reports.
“This Department of Justice’s efforts will not cease until we have challenged every state law or university policy that gives preferential treatment to illegal aliens over our Nation’s own citizens,” Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward Jr. stated in a news release.
“Congress long ago made clear that states cannot give reduced tuition to illegal aliens not available to all Americans,” Woodward stated.
Responding to the lawsuit Thursday, the university stated: “The University of Delaware is aware of the complaint filed today by the U.S. Department of Justice, and we are reviewing it carefully.”
It declined to comment further when contacted by the News Journal.
Under the public university’s policy, illegal immigrants may qualify for the university’s lower, in-state tuition price if they are Delaware residents.
The tuition for in-state residents is approximately $15,740, while the out-of-state rate is about $42,470, according to the lawsuit.
The department’s lawsuit alleges the policy is illegal, citing a federal law that states “an alien who is not lawfully present in the United States shall not be eligible on the basis of residence within a State … for any postsecondary education benefit unless a citizen or national of the United States is eligible for such a benefit …”
The lawsuit asks a federal judge to block the university from enforcing the policy and prohibit it from “enacting any new tuition policies that favor illegal aliens over U.S. citizens.”
Within the past two years, the Trump administration has filed 26 lawsuits against states with laws similar to the University of Delaware’s policy, according to the department news release.
To date, “six lawsuits in Texas, Kentucky, Oklahoma, Nebraska, Illinois, and Kansas have resulted in favorable orders permanently enjoining and declaring unconstitutional similar laws,” the department stated.
The rulings have impacted “an estimated 180,000 undocumented students,” according to the News Journal.
Some progressive immigration groups have described the lawsuits as a “concerted campaign of hostility toward all immigrants” by the Trump administration, The College Fix previously reported.
MORE: California governor vetoes bill to let illegal immigrants work on campus
