Feds Sues Oregon, and WA State over College Tuition Assistance for Illegals

The lawsuits began last June, in 2025, and have now grown to 21 states. Texas was the first to be sued by the US Department of Justice.

   WA State and Oregon now Sued over Tuition Assistance for Illegals That's Not Offered to Some US Citizens.

It's not a new phenomenon in WA State, former Governor Gary Locke signed a bill passed in 2003 that allowed undocumented WA residents who met high school and residency criteria to be allowed to pay resident tuitioin rates at WA state funded colleges and universities (House Bill 1079).

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However, it ramped up under Governor Inslee, in 2014, he signed a bill called the WA Dream Act, that opened up eligibility to illegals in the Washington College Grant (formerly the State Need Grant).

 Why is DOJ Suing WA and other States?

The DOJ is suing because WA legislation, and similar policies in Oregon, and other states, allows illegals to pay in-state rates, while still charging higher out-of-state rates for US Citizens.   In-state tuition for WA residents is cheaper than a student, for example, from Montana or Utah or elsewhere who  attend a state-funded school in WA.

The DOJ says this discriminates against legal US Citizens.  Associate Attorney General Stanley E. Woodward Jr. said in part: (from DOJ release)

“By granting illegal aliens in-state tuition, Washington, Oregon, New Mexico, and Arizona are pushing citizens to the side and ignoring federal law."

 The complaint-lawsuit is against all state-funded or supported institutions, WSU, UW, EWU, CWU, WWU and the WA State Student Achievement Council.  The council is a defendant in the Federal action because they administer the programs the DOJ says discriminate against US Citizens.

Federal law says states cannot provide any benefits or advantages to illegals that they do not provide to any other legal US Citizen.

Other states being suded besides WA, OR and Texas include Arizona, New Mexico, Minnesota,  Virginia, California, New Jersey, Kansas, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Maryland, Colorado, New York, Connecticut, and Vermont.