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DOJ sued Connecticut to block in-state tuition and financial aid for undocumented students, one of three suits filed that day

On August 11, 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice sued Connecticut in federal court to strike down the state's in-state tuition and financial-aid programs for undocumented students, arguing they unlawfully grant noncitizens benefits unavailable to out-of-state U.S. citizens. The suit challenges Connecticut's 2011/2015 in-state tuition law, a 2018 institutional-aid law, Connecticut State Community College aid, the Roberta B. Willis need-based grant program, and the state's student-loan reimbursement program. It was filed the same day as companion suits against New York and Vermont, bringing DOJ's nationwide tally of such suits to 17.

Jurisdiction
Federal
Location
Connecticut

Abuses documented

Actors

The U.S. Department of Justice sued Connecticut on August 11, 2026, seeking to strike down the state's in-state tuition and financial-aid programs for undocumented students. The complaint targets Connecticut's 2011 in-state tuition law (expanded in 2015), a 2018 law allowing institutional aid for students without permanent legal status, Connecticut State Community College aid, the Roberta B. Willis need-based grant program, and the state's student-loan reimbursement program, arguing the laws unconstitutionally discriminate against U.S. citizens who live outside Connecticut and are denied the same reduced rates. Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward said DOJ has "now sued every state in the Second Circuit that seeks to thwart Congress's clear prohibition by placing alien over citizen," 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 filed the Connecticut suit alongside companion complaints against New York and Vermont the same day, covering every state in the Second Circuit with a similar tuition law; the department said the filings bring its nationwide total to 17 lawsuits challenging in-state tuition for undocumented students, with earlier suits in Texas, Kentucky, Oklahoma, Nebraska, and Illinois already resulting in injunctions. Connecticut Attorney General William Tong said he would defend the state's policies, telling Trump to "stay out of Connecticut," and Gov. Ned Lamont said the state would not "accept his attempts to turn back the clock on progress."

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 Connecticut on August 11, 2026 — one of three suits filed the same day against Second Circuit states — to strike down state laws dating to 2011 that extend in-state tuition and aid to undocumented students, part of a campaign that has now reached 17 lawsuits nationwide. This archive records when the federal executive turns to coordinated litigation to override state legislatures' policy choices on immigration-related benefits, rather than seeking a change in the underlying federal standard through Congress.

Sources

  1. The Department of Justice Files Complaints Against New York, Connecticut, and Vermont Challenging State Laws that Provide In-State Tuition to Illegal Aliens — U.S. Department of Justice primary accessed August 12, 2026
  2. DOJ sues CT over in-state tuition for undocumented students — CT Mirror secondary accessed August 12, 2026

See also