The Department of Justice (DOJ) has sued Virginia for granting in-state tuition to illegal aliens attending state colleges and universities, such as the University of Virginia and George Mason University.
The Republican attorney general of Virginia has agreed to stop the practice, which is mandated by a progressive state law that appears to violate federal law. Backers of the allegedly illegal state law are now racing to intervene in the lawsuit to defend the state law, which probably violates federal law.
The complaint filed in lawsuit says Virginia’s laws “unconstitutionally discriminate against U.S. citizens,” encourage illegal immigration, and conflict with federal law by “rewarding illegal immigrants with benefits that U.S. citizens are not eligible for.” These benefits include tuition breaks, scholarships, and other forms of financial support.
Campus Reform notes that
At the University of Virginia, a public institution, the estimated total cost of attendance for an in-state first-year student in the College of Arts and Sciences is $41,000. For out-of-state students, the same program costs $81,000.
That means that an illegal alien who qualifies for in-state tuition pays about half of what an out-of-state American citizen pays for the same program.
Virginia Code §§ 23.1-502 and 23.505.1 allow illegal aliens to receive in-state tuition if they attended a Virginia high school for at least two years or graduated from one, regardless of immigration status….
The DOJ argues that Virginia’s laws are preempted by federal law. The Supremacy Clause of the Constitution determines that “federal statutes may preempt state laws and render them ineffective,” according to the lawsuit.
Virginia’s policies allegedly violate the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 and federal immigration law barring states from offering benefits to illegal aliens unless the same benefits are offered to all U.S. citizens.
Currently, there are 13,122 illegal alien students in the higher education system in Virginia, according to the Higher Ed Immigration Portal. There are an estimated 510,000 illegal alien students in the higher education system throughout the country.
