The U.S. Department of Justice has sued Virginia, accusing the state of unlawfully providing in-state tuition rates and other financial aid to noncitizens who are not legally present in the United States while denying the same benefits to U.S. citizens who live outside the commonwealth.
In a lawsuit filed Monday in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, the DOJ said federal law bars states from offering postsecondary education benefits to undocumented residents if those benefits are not equally available to U.S. citizens.
“There are no exceptions,” the government said in the complaint. “Virginia violates it nonetheless.”
The lawsuit is part of a broader federal effort targeting state policies that allow undocumented students to qualify for reduced tuition or financial assistance. Similar lawsuits have recently been filed against states including Illinois and California. Kentucky, by contrast, agreed earlier this year to end a policy allowing undocumented residents to receive in-state tuition rates.
A spokesperson for California Governor Gavin Newsom previously described the federal lawsuit against that state as politically motivated and said it would be challenged in court.
Representatives for Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin, a Republican, and Governor-elect Abigail Spanberger, a Democrat scheduled to take office Jan. 17, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
According to the complaint, Virginia law classifies undocumented immigrants as state residents under certain conditions, making them eligible for in-state tuition and state-administered financial aid at public colleges and universities. At the same time, U.S. citizens who are not Virginia residents remain ineligible for those reduced rates.
“This is not only wrong but illegal,” the DOJ said. “The challenged act’s discriminatory treatment in favor of illegal aliens over U.S. citizens is squarely prohibited and preempted by federal law.”
Federal law provides that an individual who is not lawfully present in the United States cannot receive postsecondary education benefits based on state residency unless U.S. citizens are also eligible for the same benefits, the government said.
Virginia has allowed undocumented students to qualify for in-state tuition since 2022. The DOJ argues that the law removes immigration status as a barrier to establishing domicile and creates a pathway to reduced tuition and financial assistance, including by tying eligibility to attendance at Virginia public high schools.
The complaint contends that this structure relies on residency determinations embedded in Virginia’s K through 12 education system rather than creating a separate pathway that complies with federal law.
As applied to undocumented residents, the provisions conflict with federal law and are therefore preempted under the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution, the DOJ said.
The government is asking the court to declare that Virginia’s laws, as applied to individuals not lawfully present in the United States, violate federal law. It is also seeking a permanent injunction, along with costs and attorney fees.
The case has been assigned to U.S. District Judge Robert E. Payne.
The case is United States v. Commonwealth of Virginia, No. 3:25-cv-01067, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia.
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