Illinois can’t give cheaper college tuition to illegal aliens, judge rules

“Illinois can’t give illegal immigrants special in-state discounts on college tuition or special grants to attend the state’s public colleges and universities, a federal judge has ruled. On July 24, U.S. District Judge David W. Dugan ruled Illinois Democratic lawmakers and Gov. JB Pritzker violated federal law” and the U.S. Constitution’s Supremacy Clause “by enacting laws specifically designed to allow illegal immigrants to attend Illinois public colleges and universities at the same tuition rate normally reserved for U.S. citizens and legal non-citizens who live in Illinois,” reports Legal Newsline.

“In the ruling, Dugan said the Illinois laws, known as the RISE Act and the Illinois DREAM Act, illegally give illegal immigrants state educational benefits that are not also extended to U.S. citizens who live outside Illinois.”

“Put simply, U.S. citizens or nationals must be treated no worse than illegal aliens,” said Judge Dugan’s ruling.

After the ruling, Steven Weinhoeft, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Illinois, praised the ruling:

“Illinois sought to incentivize illegal immigration on the taxpayer’s dime by treating illegal aliens better than U.S. citizens living in other states, in clear violation of federal law,” he said. “This ruling enforces the statute Congress wrote and stops the State from putting illegal aliens ahead of American citizens.”

Legal Newsline says that the “decision marks a big win for Trump administration in their legal campaign to strike down so-called ‘sanctuary’ or ‘welcoming’ laws and policies in Illinois and other states.”

Last year, Illinois’ progressive legislature added $11 billion more to the state’s unfunded pension liabilities, which will require future tax hikes. Illinois legislators allocated $500,000 to a non-existent college.

Illinois is also funding a city-owned grocery store in a town with a falling population, even though city-owned grocery stores tend to provide bad food and lose money. Shoppers were “frustrated” by the rancid smell, expired food, and empty shelves at a taxpayer-funded grocery store in Kansas City.

Illinois spends more on dismally-bad colleges than on apprenticeships and workforce training. Over the years, it has spent billions of dollars on awful schools that graduate few of their students, like Chicago State University, which had an 11% graduation rate in 2016.

Thousands of Chicago school laptops ended up in China, Africa, the Middle East, and Latin America.