Illinois Noncitizen In-State Tuition Benefits Nixed by Judge
Illinois can no longer offer in-state tuition at public colleges and universities to immigrants who are illegally in the US after a federal judge held the program unconstitutional.
A federal law that prohibits states from granting immigrants unlawfully in the country secondary education tuition breaks unless they give those same benefits to all US citizens regardless of residency expressly preempts the provisions, Judge David W. Dugan of the US District Court for the Southern District of Illinois said July 24.
The federal law “is an exercise of the federal government’s exclusive authority ‘over the subject of immigration and the status of aliens,’” Dugan wrote. It doesn’t run afoul of the anti-commandeering doctrine because it doesn’t dictate what a state may or may not do education-wise; it acts solely to limit private individuals’ eligibility for certain benefits, Dugan said.
“Put simply, U.S. citizens or nationals must be treated no worse than illegal aliens,” Dugan said.
The state provisions provide eligibility for in-state tuition benefits to such immigrants so long as they resided in the state or proved they resided there at one time, such a graduation from an Illinois high school.
