Nebraska Attorney General Mike Hilgers has since said that the statute, in its current form, “unlawfully extended benefits to illegal immigrants which were not available to American citizens.”
The U.S. Department of Justice has filed a civil lawsuit against Nebraska, claiming a state program offering in-state tuition rates for undocumented immigrants is against federal law.
“In direct conflict with Federal law, Nebraska law rewards an illegal alien present in our Nation with eligibility for in-state tuition based on residence within that state, while explicitly denying eligibility for resident tuition rates to United States citizens who are not Nebraska residents,” the lawsuit alleges.
According to Nebraska Public Radio, almost immediately after the lawsuit was announced, officials for both the state and federal government filed a joint proposed consent decree. The decree asks a Nebraska judge to find various parts of the statute authorizing the tuition benefit unlawful.
In a statement, Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen said the lawsuit is “the latest example of the tremendous partnership between the State of Nebraska and the Trump Administration.”
Pillen added that voters in his state “expect that illegal aliens won’t get the benefit of in-state tuition and financial aid.”
The law at issue details the requirements necessary for students to receive in-state tuition rates at Nebraska’s public colleges and universities. Under the state’s current law, which was passed in 2006, non-citizens are eligible for in-state tuition so long as they graduate from a Nebraska high school and have lived in the state for at least three years. The Trump administration has argued that this policy is unlawful because it extends a benefit to undocumented immigrants that is not available to U.S. citizens residing in other states.
Nebraska Attorney General Mike Hilgers has since said that the statute, in its current form, “unlawfully extended benefits to illegal immigrants which were not available to American citizens.”
The Department of Justice’s lawsuit also challenges a series of congressionally-approved scholarship programs that are open to students without legal status. These include the Nebraska Opportunity Grant, the Access College Early Scholarship Program Act, and the Door to College Scholarship Act.
Federal law states that undocumented students “shall not be eligible on the basis of residence within a State” unless “a citizen or national is eligible for such a benefit without regard to whether the citizen or national is a resident.”
“But even in such cases, a state may not offer in-state tuition (or “resident tuition”) benefits to illegal aliens present in the United States based on their residence in the state, if those same benefits are denied to American citizens from other states,” the Department of Justice wrote in the lawsuit.
The Department of Justice claims that, in this case, federal law pre-empts Nebraska policy.
Sources
Facing lawsuit from DOJ, Nebraska looks to end in-state tuition for undocumented students
IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF NEBRASKA OMAHA DIVISION
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