DOJ sued Washington, Arizona, New Mexico, and Oregon to block in-state tuition and aid for undocumented students, bringing its total to 21 states

On August 27, 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice filed four separate lawsuits against Washington, Arizona, New Mexico, and Oregon, seeking to strike down each state's law granting in-state college tuition and financial aid to undocumented students. The complaints argue the laws unconstitutionally discriminate against U.S. citizens who are not offered the same reduced tuition rates or scholarships, in violation of a federal law that bars states from extending resident-tuition benefits to people not lawfully present unless the same benefit is available to citizens regardless of where they live. Associate Attorney General Stanley E. Woodward Jr. said in a Justice Department statement, "By granting illegal aliens in-state tuition, Washington, Oregon, New Mexico, and Arizona are pushing citizens to the side and ignoring federal law. No more. As of today, we have now sued 21 states." Assistant Attorney General Brett A. Shumate of the Civil Division added, "This is a simple matter of federal law: colleges cannot provide benefits to illegal aliens that they do not provide to U.S. citizens."

Washington's law, enacted in 2003, grants "resident student" status and in-state tuition and aid to undocumented students who attended a Washington high school and have lived in the state for at least a year; the complaint also challenges the state's Washington College Grant program and its Undocumented Student Support Loan Program. It calculates the tuition gap using the University of Washington's 2026-27 rates — $13,406 for residents versus $44,460 for nonresidents. In Arizona, DOJ's complaint cites a report from the Arizona Center for Investigative Reporting estimating that at least 720 undocumented students received in-state tuition in Fall 2025, including 432 at Arizona State University, and calculates that illegal aliens received roughly $10.5 million in reduced tuition at ASU alone that year.

A spokesperson for the Washington State Attorney General's Office called the lawsuit "politically motivated" and said the office looks forward to "defending longstanding Washington laws that recognize the potential and promise of all our residents regardless of citizenship status." DOJ said the four suits bring its nationwide campaign against in-state-tuition laws to 21 states, following earlier suits against Texas, Kentucky, Oklahoma, Nebraska, and Illinois that already resulted in orders permanently enjoining similar laws, with additional suits pending in Minnesota, Virginia, California, New Jersey, Kansas, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Maryland, Colorado, New York, Connecticut, and Vermont.