DOJ sued Virginia over in-state tuition for undocumented students; outgoing AG Miyares joined DOJ to strike the law unopposed

On December 29, 2025, the U.S. Department of Justice sued Virginia in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, Richmond Division, seeking to enjoin two Virginia laws -- enacted in 2020 and 2021 -- that let undocumented students who graduated from a Virginia high school and filed state income tax returns for two years qualify for in-state tuition and state financial aid. Attorney General Pamela Bondi said in a statement announcing the suit, "This is a simple matter of federal law: in Virginia and nationwide, schools cannot provide benefits to illegal aliens that they do not provide to U.S. citizens. This Department of Justice will not tolerate American students being treated like second-class citizens in their own country." The complaint argued the laws unconstitutionally discriminate against U.S. citizens residing outside Virginia by denying them the same reduced tuition rates available to undocumented Virginia residents, and followed similar DOJ suits against Texas, Kentucky, Illinois, Oklahoma, Minnesota, and California.

The following day, outgoing Republican Attorney General Jason Miyares -- who had lost his November re-election bid to Democrat Jay Jones -- joined DOJ in a joint motion asking the court to enter a consent judgment declaring the Virginia law preempted by federal law and barring its enforcement, without the state ever mounting a defense. Miyares wrote on social media that he was "proud to play a part in ending this unlawful program." Jones, the incoming attorney general, called the timing "a deliberate attempt to beat the clock to prevent a new administration from defending" the students, and the Dream Project, a Virginia nonprofit supporting undocumented students, moved to intervene in the case and asked the court to delay ruling on the consent order pending that motion.

State Senator Jennifer Boysko, who carried the Senate version of the underlying legislation, defended the policy, saying the affected students "are educated in Virginia, their parents pay taxes in Virginia" and that the program supports the state's workforce. More than 13,000 undocumented students attend Virginia colleges and universities, and roughly 5,000 undocumented students graduate from Virginia high schools each year, according to the Higher Ed Immigration Portal.

Updates

2026-01-21 — Virginia's new AG withdrew consent and moved to defend the law

Jay Jones, sworn in as Virginia Attorney General, filed a motion to withdraw his predecessor's consent to the proposed judgment, saying he would "fight back against the Trump Administration's attacks on our Commonwealth" and defend the tuition law instead [5].

2026-02-27 — Court invalidated the DOJ-Miyares consent agreement

A federal judge invalidated the joint agreement DOJ and Miyares had submitted, mooting the Dream Project's motion to intervene since Virginia was now defending the law itself [6].

2026-07-07 — Parties argued cross-motions for summary judgment

Virginia and DOJ each argued for summary judgment before Senior U.S. District Judge Robert Payne, who did not indicate when he would rule and asked for data on how many students qualify under the law and their immigration status [7].