California and Arizona Still Fighting DOJ Lawsuits Over In-State Tuition for Illegal Immigrants

California and Arizona are still defending laws that let illegal immigrants pay in-state college tuition as the U.S. Department of Justice finishes a nationwide campaign against every state with a similar policy.

The department said Sept. 10 that it had filed its final four complaints, against Hawaii, Arkansas, Utah and the District of Columbia, and that it has now sued every state with a law providing in-state tuition to illegal immigrants under circumstances the government contends violate federal law. The total is 25 cases against states and the District of Columbia. 

Associate Attorney General Stanley E. Woodward Jr. said the department had “sued every state across our Nation that has a state law or regulation granting illegal aliens in-state tuition.” Six of those cases—Texas, Kentucky, Oklahoma, Nebraska, Illinois and Kansas—have produced orders permanently blocking the challenged provisions. 

California and Arizona are among the states still in court. At the center of both fights is a 1996 federal statute, Section 505 of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act, codified at 8 U.S.C. § 1623. It provides that an alien who is not lawfully present in the United States shall not be eligible, on the basis of residence within a state, for a postsecondary education benefit unless a U.S. citizen is eligible for a benefit of the same amount, duration and scope regardless of whether that citizen lives in the state. 

The Justice Department argues that high-school-attendance rules used by California and Arizona are a proxy for residency and therefore conflict with the statute and the Supremacy Clause.

Assistant Attorney General Brett A. Shumate said when the final suits were announced that “colleges cannot provide benefits to illegal aliens that they do not provide to U.S. citizens.”

California

The Justice Department sued California on Nov. 20, 2025, challenging Education Code section 68130.5, the statute rooted in AB 540. The law lets certain students who attended a California high school for at least three years and graduated in the state pay resident tuition regardless of immigration status. 

The complaint also targets later laws extending state scholarships and subsidized loans to those students. The United States named Gov. Gavin Newsom and the governing boards of the University of California, California State University and California Community Colleges.In its complaint announcement, the department said California extends in-state tuition, scholarships and subsidized loans to illegal aliens while requiring U.S. citizens from other states to pay higher rates. 

Then-Attorney General Pam Bondi said California was “illegally discriminating against American students and families.” 

Higher Ed Dive reported that California is home to roughly 103,000 undocumented residents enrolled in higher education, about a fifth of the national total tracked by the Higher Ed Immigration Portal.

The California Globe previously reported that the tuition suit was one of several Justice Department actions against California sanctuary policies, alongside challenges to the state’s mask restrictions on federal officers. That case remains pending, according to the department’s Sept. 10 status list.

The tuition fight sits alongside other state spending on noncitizen students that the Globe has documented. In June, the Globe reported that lawmakers were putting another $350 million into the CalNEW “immigrant newcomer” school program even as the state enrolled nearly 237,000 such students, the largest population in the country. 

Last week, the Globe reported that President Trump’s nearly $1 billion pocket rescission targeted leftover federal grants for illegal-alien services, including $25 million from Education Department Special Programs for Migrant Students.  Earlier Globe reporting also tracked AB 91, the 2023 bill to let certain students living in Mexico attend San Diego and Imperial County community colleges at in-state rates.

Arizona

Arizona was sued Aug. 27, 2026, along with New Mexico, Oregon and Washington. The target is Proposition 308, the 2022 ballot measure that lets students pay in-state tuition and receive state financial aid regardless of immigration status if they attended school in Arizona for at least two years and graduated from an Arizona high school. 

Voters approved it 51.2 percent to 48.8 percent.

The Justice Department’s announcement of those suits said the laws put illegal aliens ahead of U.S. citizens. In its Arizona filing, the department cited Arizona State University and said the gap between resident and nonresident tuition was roughly $24,000 a year. 

It alleged that at least 432 undocumented students received in-state rates at ASU in fall 2025, representing about $10.5 million in reduced tuition compared with the nonresident rate, and that at least 720 undocumented students statewide received the rate that semester. 

The department also cited an Arizona Center for Investigative Reporting estimate that more than 3,600 people a year could qualify.

Attorney General Kris Mayes has said she will defend the measure. In a 2025 opinion she argued that eligibility turns on high-school attendance and graduation in Arizona, not on residence, and therefore does not violate 8 U.S.C. § 1623. After the suit was filed she called it “a political vendetta aimed at undermining the will of Arizona voters,” the Arizona Capitol Times reported. The case is pending in federal court.

Esteban Elizondo, associate editor at Campus Reform, told The National News Desk that the difference between in-state and out-of-state rates can exceed $100,000 over four years at some schools, and that the disputes also reach grants and work-study. 

Supporters of the California and Arizona laws say many recipients grew up and graduated from high school in those states and that resident rates make college attainable. The courts are now deciding whether those eligibility rules conflict with the 1996 federal restriction.

The Justice Department’s Sept. 10 release listing the completed campaign is here. The National News Desk report on the final filings is here.