(The Center Square) — New Jersey is violating federal law by allowing “illegal aliens” to pay lower in-state tuition rates at the state’s public colleges and universities, the Department of Justice claims in a new lawsuit.
The complaint, filed in U.S. District Court Thursday, asks a judge to invalidate New Jersey laws that require colleges and universities to provide in-state tuition rates for immigrants who have established residency in the state, regardless of their immigration status. Federal prosecutors say the laws deprive U.S. citizens of opportunities for lower tuition rates, scholarships and other assistance.
“Congress made a legislative judgment that illegal aliens in our nation cannot receive resident tuition benefits that are denied to U.S. citizens residing in other states,” the DOJ wrote in the 22-page complaint. There are no exceptions. Yet New Jersey has ignored this legislative command for over a decade.”
The complaint stems from a 2013 law that extended eligibility for in-state tuition benefits at New Jersey post-secondary education institutions to residents of the state, regardless of their immigration status, allowing them to pay substantially lower tuition rates than U.S. citizens from other states.
Other New Jersey laws and regulations make immigrants eligible for in-state tuition, grants, scholarships, and financial assistance to “illegal aliens,” the DOJ said.
“These statutes blatantly discriminate in favor of illegal aliens over U.S. citizens from other states,” the DOJ wrote. “Worse, such preferential treatment is squarely prohibited and preempted by Congress.”
DOJ lawyers pointed to the wide disparities between in-state and out-of-state tuition rates. At the prestigious Rutgers University, New Jersey residents pay $14,933 a year for tuition, while non-New Jersey residents $35,758. Montclair State University charges New Jersey residents $15,678 a year for tuition while charging out-of-state students $26,394, according to the DOJ’s lawsuit.
“Imagine being denied the opportunity of education in your own country,” Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward said in a statement. “By granting illegal aliens in-state tuition, the state of New Jersey is doing just that.”
There was no immediate response from New Jersey Attorney General Jennifer Davenport, whose office will be defending the state against the legal challenge.
In the lawsuit, the DOJ said New Jersey law and other similar laws that offer in-state tuition to immigrants “unconstitutionally discriminate against U.S. citizens who are not afforded the same reduced tuition rates, scholarships, or subsidies, create incentives for illegal immigration, and reward illegal immigrants with benefits that U.S. citizens are not eligible for, all in direct conflict with federal law.
“This is a simple matter of federal law: in New Jersey and nationwide, colleges cannot provide benefits to illegal aliens that they do not provide to U.S. citizens,” Assistant Attorney General Brett A. Shumate of the Justice Department’s Civil Division said in a statement. “This Department of Justice will not tolerate American students being treated like second-class citizens in their own country.”
