DOJ sued Massachusetts and Rhode Island to block in-state tuition and aid for undocumented students
On June 29, 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice sued Massachusetts and Rhode Island in federal court, seeking to block each state's in-state tuition and financial-aid programs for undocumented students, arguing the laws unlawfully grant noncitizens benefits unavailable to U.S. citizens living outside the state. The suits challenge Massachusetts' 2023 Tuition Equity Law and Rhode Island's in-state tuition policy, in place since 2011 and codified in 2021. DOJ said the filings brought its litigation campaign's total to 12 states, following earlier suits that resulted in permanent injunctions in Texas, Kentucky, Oklahoma, and Nebraska.
Actors
On June 29, 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice's Civil Division sued Massachusetts and Rhode Island in federal court, seeking to enjoin enforcement of state laws that provide in-state college tuition and financial aid to undocumented students. The complaints argue federal law bars states from extending resident tuition benefits to noncitizens when the same benefit is denied to U.S. citizens living outside the state. Massachusetts' Tuition Equity Law, enacted in 2023, created a "High School Completer" pathway granting in-state tuition and state financial aid to students who attended and graduated from a Massachusetts high school regardless of immigration status. Rhode Island's policy traces to a 2011 Board of Governors for Higher Education decision and was codified into state law in 2021.
Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward said the department "will continue to challenge state laws that place aliens over citizens in clear defiance of Congress's commands," and Assistant Attorney General Brett A. Shumate of the Civil Division said "colleges cannot provide benefits to illegal aliens that they do not provide to U.S. citizens." DOJ said the two suits were among three lawsuits filed that week, bringing the department's litigation campaign to 12 states; four earlier suits, against Texas, Kentucky, Oklahoma, and Nebraska, had already resulted in orders permanently enjoining similar state laws, with additional suits pending in Illinois, Minnesota, Virginia, California, New Jersey, and Kansas.
Massachusetts and Rhode Island officials said they would defend their laws. A spokesperson for Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha said the office would "continue to aggressively defend this state's laws against unlawful overreach by this administration," and a spokesperson for the Massachusetts Executive Office of Education called the suit "yet another attempt by President Trump to punish immigrant families and hurt our economy in the process." The Massachusetts Attorney General's office is defending the state in the suit, with a response due September 8, 2026; officials in both states said the tuition benefits remained in effect while litigation proceeds.
Why we recorded this
States retain broad authority under the federal system to set higher-education and financial-aid policy for their own residents. The Justice Department sued Massachusetts and Rhode Island on June 29, 2026, to strike down state laws — enacted through each state's own legislative and regulatory process — that extend in-state tuition and financial aid to undocumented students, part of a coordinated litigation campaign that had by then reached a dozen states. This archive records when the federal executive turns to litigation to override state legislatures' policy choices on immigration-related benefits, rather than seeking a change in the underlying federal standard through Congress.
Sources
- The Department of Justice Files Complaints Against Massachusetts and Rhode Island Challenging State Laws that Provide In-State Tuition to Illegal Aliens — U.S. Department of Justice primary accessed August 18, 2026
- Trump's DOJ sues R.I. and Mass. over in-state tuition for undocumented students — The Boston Globe primary accessed August 18, 2026
- DOJ sues Massachusetts, Rhode Island to end in-state tuition for noncitizens — UPI secondary accessed August 18, 2026
- DOJ challenges Mass. tuition equity law for undocumented students — The Boston Globe primary accessed August 18, 2026
See also
- DOJ sued Maryland to block in-state tuition benefit for undocumented students, its 13th such suit against a state
- DOJ sued Connecticut to block in-state tuition and financial aid for undocumented students, one of three suits filed that day
- DOJ sued Washington, Arizona, New Mexico, and Oregon to block in-state tuition and aid for undocumented students, bringing its total to 21 states
- DOJ launched $300M Model Cities Initiative conditioning police grants on immigration enforcement cooperation and surveillance
- DOJ sued Washtenaw County, Michigan to strike down ICE non-cooperation policies, invoking the Supremacy Clause
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