The Trump administration has filed lawsuits against Massachusetts and Rhode Island, arguing that the states are unlawfully giving illegal immigrants tuition benefits that are unavailable to many American citizens.
The Justice Department announced Monday that it is challenging laws in both states that allow certain illegal immigrants who meet residency and education requirements to pay in-state tuition rates and, in Massachusetts, qualify for state financial aid and scholarships.
According to the Justice Department, those policies violate federal law by granting benefits to noncitizens that are not equally available to American citizens who live outside the state.
“The Department of Justice is committed to fulfilling President Trump’s promise that illegal aliens will not receive taxpayer benefits or preferential treatment over America’s own citizens,” Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward said in a statement.
“As our nation marks 250 years of freedom, we will continue to challenge state laws that place aliens over citizens in clear defiance of Congress’ commands,” he added.
Massachusetts has allowed qualifying illegal immigrant students to receive in-state tuition, financial aid, and scholarships at public colleges and universities since 2023. Rhode Island has offered in-state tuition to qualifying illegal immigrant students since 2011, later codifying the policy into state law in 2021.
The lawsuits rely on a provision of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996. That law prohibits states from providing in-state tuition benefits to illegal immigrants unless the same benefit is available to all American citizens regardless of their state of residence.
Justice Department attorneys are asking federal courts to block enforcement of both states’ laws.
The lawsuits are part of a broader immigration initiative launched during President Trump’s second term. In April 2025, Trump signed an executive order directing the attorney general to identify and challenge state laws that “favor aliens over any groups of American citizens,” specifically highlighting in-state tuition policies that benefit illegal immigrants while denying the same rates to American students from other states.
Since then, the administration has filed legal challenges against similar laws in a dozen states.
According to the Justice Department, federal courts have already permanently blocked comparable tuition policies in Texas, Kentucky, Oklahoma, and Nebraska. Kansas recently joined the administration in seeking a consent decree to end its law, while litigation remains pending in Illinois, Minnesota, Virginia, California, New Jersey, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island.
Supporters of so-called Dream Act tuition laws argue the policies make higher education accessible to students who have lived in their states for years and attended local schools.
Opponents argue that the issue is one of equal treatment under federal law and rewarding their violaters.
According to the Higher Ed Immigration Portal, approximately 20 states and Washington, D.C., currently provide in-state tuition for qualifying students unlawfully in the United States, while 18 states and the District of Columbia also offer access to state financial aid.
READ NEXT: Trump Administration Revokes Clinton-Era Rule Granting Illegal Immigrants Free Tuition
