Hawaii, Arkansas, Utah and DC sued over in-state tuition for immigrants

The four lawsuits are the latest of 25 similar complaints the Justice Department has filed claiming states are violating federal law by offering financial aid to immigrant students.

by Quinn Welsch, CourtHouseNews, September 10, 2026

(CN) — The Department of Justice sued three states and the District of Columbia on Thursday over what it calls preferential treatment toward student immigrants living in the country illegally and discrimination against U.S. citizens.

The lawsuits filed in federal court against Hawaii, Arkansas, Utah and D.C. are the the latest in a series brought by the Trump administration challenging state laws providing university financial assistance to immigrant students without legal status.

The DOJ claims these state laws are unconstitutional violations of the supremacy clause and discriminate against U.S. citizens who do not receive the same reduced tuition rates, scholarships, incentives or rewards, the DOJ said in a press release.

“No more placing illegal aliens over American citizens on this Department of Justice’s watch,” Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward Jr. said in a statement. “We have now sued every state across our nation that has a state law or regulation granting illegal aliens in-state tuition. We look forward to favorable court rulings and will continue to deliver on President Trump’s promise: illegal aliens will not receive benefits denied to American citizens.”

There are now 25 such lawsuits across the country, the DOJ says.

The DOJ seek to block enforcement of laws in the states and D.C. that provide colleges and universities the ability to offer in-state tuition rates for students, regardless of their legal status.

“This is a simple matter of federal law: colleges cannot provide benefits to illegal aliens that they do not provide to U.S. citizens,” said Assistant Attorney General Brett Shumate of the DOJ’s Civil Division. “This Department of Justice will not tolerate American students being treated like second-class citizens in their own country.”

The department also seeks to block Hawaii, D.C., Arkansas and Utah from enforcing their state laws and regulations that afford financial assistance and scholarships to students without permanent legal status.

“Federal law prohibits illegal aliens from receiving postsecondary education benefits based on residence within a state if such benefits are denied to U.S. citizens residing in other states,” the DOJ says in its complaints. “There are no exceptions.”

In response, the Arkansas Attorney General’s Office seemed likely to comply with the Trump administration.

“We agree with the U.S. Department of Justice that federal law preempts state law in this case, and that this state law should not be enforced,” Arkansas Attorney General’s Office spokesman Jeff LeMaster told Courthouse News. “We are reviewing the complaint to determine our next steps.”

The offices of the attorneys general for D.C., Hawaii and Utah did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

This most recent round of lawsuits comes after the Trump administration scored a victory in Kansas, where a federal judge found state law there is preempted by the federal government.

The DOJ has also been successful in Texas, Kentucky, Oklahoma, Nebraska and Illinois, as well as in the Fifth Circuit. Similar lawsuits in more than a dozen other states are still pending.