PHOENIX — The U.S. Department of Justice has sued Arizona over a voter-passed state law allowing Dreamers to qualify for in-state tuition at public universities.
In its complaint against the state and the Arizona Board of Regents, the DOJ said Arizona has ignored a federal law prohibiting students without legal status from receiving education benefits based on state residency if out-of-state U.S. citizens cannot qualify for them.
“Our efforts will not cease until President Trump’s promise is fulfilled: illegal aliens will not receive benefits denied to American citizens,” Associate Attorney General Stanley E. Woodward Jr. said in a statement.
“The Arizona Board of Regents carries out the laws enacted by the state and approved by Arizona voters,” board spokesperson Megan Gilbertson said. “We are reviewing the lawsuit and will work closely with Arizona leaders on the appropriate next steps.”
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Attorney General Kris Mayes’ also office said they were still reviewing the complaint. But her office also said in a statement the federal lawsuit “rests on a faulty premise.”
“Proposition 308, as written and approved by Arizona voters, doesn't condition eligibility on residence, which is what the government alleges,” the AG’s office said. “It conditions eligibility on whether a student attended and graduated from an Arizona high school (or homeschool equivalent).”
In-state tuition rates are tied to where a student attended school and where they graduated, not residency, Mayes office said, adding that Arizona’s law falls outside the scope of the federal law the DOJ cites in its lawsuit.
The CEO of Aliento, an Arizona nonprofit that works with undocumented students and families with mixed immigration statuses, agreed.
"The DOJ is trying to do everything they can to stop Dreamers from attending college,” Reyna Montoya said in a statement, adding she has “no doubt” the department will lose in court.
She encouraged Dreamers to continue to pursue higher education.
“For Arizona Dreamers, it is important for you to know that you belong in higher education and you have the support of Arizona voters and Aliento,” she said. “A lawsuit does not change Dreamers’ ability to pay in-state tuition.”
Arizona voters passed Prop. 308 in 2022.
President Donald Trump issued an executive order last year ordering the U.S. attorney general to stop the enforcement of state laws allowing in-state tuition for immigrants without legal status.
Later that year, Mayes issued a nonbinding opinion on the legality of Prop. 308. In it, she wrote that the federal statute “restricts eligibility for some benefits offered on the basis of state residence to a noncitizen who is not lawfully present unless certain conditions are met.”
“It creates no restrictions if eligibility is conditioned not on state residence, but instead on other criteria,” she wrote. “Because Proposition 308 confers no eligibility for a postsecondary education benefit on the basis of residence — and instead uses other criteria — it is consistent with § 1623.”
The DOJ, which also sued New Mexico, Oregon and Washington over their tuition laws on Thursday, has filed a total of 21 such lawsuits.
“This is a simple matter of federal law: colleges cannot provide benefits to illegal aliens that they do not provide to U.S. citizens,” Assistant Attorney General Brett A. Shumate said. “This Department of Justice will not tolerate American students being treated like second-class citizens in their own country.”
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