Trump administration files latest suit to enforce rule of law
Minnesota faces a federal lawsuit for its tuition benefits to illegal immigrants who live in-state.
The Department of Justice sued the state for privileging illegal immigrants ahead of out-of-state American citizens, which would appear to violate federal law.
States cannot give better tuition deals to illegal immigrants than American citizens, according to a decades-old law (8 U.S.C. § 1623) that has never been enforced until now.
“This Court should put an end to this unequal treatment of Americans that is an unequivocal and ongoing violation of federal law by entering a permanent injunction against the enforcement of Minnesota State laws that mandate the grant of unlawful state benefits to aliens not lawfully present in the United States,” the lawsuit states.
The DOJ notes Minnesota “explicitly classify aliens who are not lawfully present in the United States as residents under certain conditions, and thus eligible for reduced tuition and free tuition respectively, for public state colleges.”
“This discriminatory treatment in favor of aliens not lawfully present in the United States over U.S. citizens is squarely prohibited and preempted by federal law,” the Justice Department states.
“No state can be allowed to treat Americans like second-class citizens in their own country by offering financial benefits to illegal aliens,” Attorney General Pamela Bondi stated in a news release on Wednesday. “The Department of Justice just won on this exact issue in Texas, and we look forward to taking this fight to Minnesota in order to protect the rights of American citizens first.”
As Attorney General Bondi alluded to, Texas settled a federal lawsuit against its in-state tuition benefits earlier this month. State leaders, including Governor Greg Abbott and Attorney General Ken Paxton, supported the lawsuit.
The Trump administration filed a similar lawsuit soon after against Kentucky. However, the state is run by Democrat Governor Andy Beshear, so a quick settlement is not likely.
Likewise, Minnesota Democratic Governor Tim Walz (pictured) will likely oppose the Trump lawsuit and defend the state’s law.
CNN reported his office is “reviewing the lawsuit ‘to better understand what this means for the state.’”
The DOJ previously failed to enforce this law under the first Trump administration. The College Fix asked in 2020 about enforcement of the law, but the DOJ declined to comment.
MORE: Universities defy Trump’s crackdown on illegal immigration
IMAGE CAPTION AND CREDIT: Minnesota Governor Tim Walz; Lev Rubin/Shutterstock