DOJ Files Lawsuit Against Illinois for Providing In-State Tuition to Illegal Immigrants

U.S. Attorney Steven Weinhoeft cited what he said was Illinois’s ‘apparent desire to win a “race to the bottom” as the country’s leading sanctuary state.’

Students of the University of Illinois carry a weather station known as a StickNet, which collects temperature, humidity, pressure, and wind data, during a NOAA education day to learn about tornadoes, in Memphis on Feb. 8, 2023. Seth Herald/AFP via Getty Images

One day after Kentucky leaders agreed to follow federal law prohibiting in-state public college tuition rates for illegal aliens, the Department of Justice (DOJ) filed a complaint against another state for noncompliance.

The lawsuit, filed in the Southern Illinois U.S. District Court, names Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, state Attorney General Kwame Raoul, and the board of trustees for the state’s university system. It cites a 1996 federal act that says illegal immigrants cannot receive lower in-state tuition rates if that same rate is not made available to all U.S. citizens.

Illinois laws, which allow in-state tuition rates for those recognized as state residents regardless of documentation or U.S. citizenship status, blatantly conflict with federal law and the supremacy clause of the U.S. Constitution, Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a Sept. 2 statement.

“This Department of Justice has already filed multiple lawsuits to prevent U.S. students from being treated like second-class citizens,” she said. “Illinois now joins the list of states where we are relentlessly fighting to vindicate federal law.”

U.S. Attorney Steven Weinhoeft said the Prairie State’s tuition policy only incentivizes more illegal immigration, “all on the taxpayer’s dime.”

“Illinois has an apparent desire to win a ‘race to the bottom’ as the country’s leading sanctuary state. Its misguided approach mandating in-state tuition, scholarships, and financial aid to illegal aliens plainly violates federal law,” he said in the Sept. 2 statement.

Illinois currently provides higher tuition rates to high school graduates who have resided in that state for three years. In 2026, that restriction will be decreased to two years under recent state legislation.

The Illinois Governor’s Office stated in an email to The Epoch Times that its current policies, which give all state residents fair access to higher education, are consistent with federal law.

“While the Trump Administration strips away federal resources from all Americans, Illinois provides consistent and inclusive educational pathways for all students—including immigrants and first-generation students—to access support and contribute to our state,” the statement reads.

“This is yet another blatant attempt to strip Illinoisans of resources and opportunities.”

The federal act, bipartisan legislation enacted during President Bill Clinton’s administration, was reaffirmed by President Donald Trump during a series of executive orders earlier this year.

Trump, under his executive order titled “Ending Taxpayer Subsidization of Open Borders,” directed federal agencies to ensure that U.S. publicly funded benefits are not given to “unqualified aliens.”

The DOJ previously sued Texas, Oklahoma, and Kentucky over in-state tuition to illegal aliens, and all three have agreed to the federal government’s demand and no longer extend in-state tuition rates to illegal immigrants. A lawsuit against Minnesota is pending.

About half of U.S. states provided in-state tuition rates and/or financial aid benefits to illegal immigrants at public colleges and universities when the 2025 fall semester began last month, according to the Higher Ed Immigration Portal.

About 62 percent of the nation’s foreign-born population lives in states with “tuition-equity” laws, and more than half a million illegal immigrants are enrolled at U.S. colleges and universities, both public and private, according to the National Immigration Law Center.