Minnesota became the latest state Wednesday to face a lawsuit from the Trump administration seeking to force it to give its high school graduates who entered the U.S. illegally as immigrants the same lower tuition rates reserved for in-state citizens.
The U.S. Department of Justice’s lawsuit also seeks to strike down a law that allows the same immigrant students to receive scholarships covering part or all of their tuition under the state’s North Star Promise program. The department filed its case in federal district court in Minnesota, naming Democratic Gov. Tim Walz and Democratic state Attorney General Keith Ellison as defendants, along with the state’s Office of Higher Education.
The Justice Department has filed similar lawsuits this month against policies in Kentucky and Texas. Last week, a federal judge in Texas blocked that state’s law giving a tuition break to students living in the U.S. illegally after the state’s Republican attorney general, Ken Paxton, said he supported the legal challenge.
Walz’s office said it is reviewing the lawsuit “to better understand what this means for the state.”
Justice Department says state discriminates against US citizens
The lawsuit argued that Minnesota is “flagrantly violating” a federal law that prevents states from providing a benefit in higher education to resident students living in the U.S. illegally if U.S. citizens cannot receive the same benefits. States generally set higher tuition rates for out-of-state students.
Also, President Donald Trump issued executive orders in February directing federal agencies to see that public benefits do not go to immigrants living in the U.S. illegally and to challenge state and local policies seen as favoring those immigrants over some citizens. The lawsuit argues that the Republican president’s orders enforce federal immigration laws.
The lawsuit also argues that Minnesota’s policies discriminate against U.S. citizens.
“No state can be allowed to treat Americans like second-class citizens in their own country by offering financial benefits to illegal aliens,” U.S. Attorney General Pamela Bondi said in a statement.
More lawsuits could be coming
The Justice Department’s lawsuit in Minnesota noted the cases filed earlier this month in Kentucky and Texas but did not mention any other states as potential targets of litigation. However, in discussing the Texas case, Bondi has suggested more lawsuits might be coming.
Last year, Florida ended its tuition break for students living there illegally, but at least 21 states have laws or policies granting them, in addition to the University of Michigan system, according to the National Immigration Law Center, which favors them. Those states include Democratic-leaning ones such as California and New York, but also GOP-leaning ones like Kansas and Nebraska.
According to the center, at least 16 states allow the immigrant students to receive scholarships or other aid to go to college.
States deny discrimination against US citizens
Supporters of the state tuition breaks argue that they don’t violate federal law if they provide the same rates to U.S. citizens in the same circumstances — meaning they are residents of the state and graduates of one of its high schools.
Generally states have imposed other requirements. For example, Minnesota requires male students to have registered with the U.S. Selective Service System and all students to be seeking legal resident status if that’s possible.
Backers of the laws also argue that the students generally were brought to the U.S. illegally by their parents, often when they were far younger, and are as much a part of their local communities as U.S.-born students. Also, they contend that such immigrants tend to be motivated high achievers.
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