The Justice Department is not slowing down on the states that put illegal aliens ahead of American students.
On June 29, 2026, DOJ filed Civil Division complaints against Massachusetts and Rhode Island over state laws that give illegal aliens in-state tuition rates and financial assistance.
The argument is simple. American citizens do not get the same deal, and federal law does not allow it.
These are lawsuits 11 and 12 in a series that already has President Trump’s DOJ on a winning streak.
The Department of Justice says both states force colleges and universities to extend in-state tuition to aliens who maintain state residency, regardless of whether they are lawfully present in the United States.
DOJ says that leaves U.S. citizens outside those states without the same reduced tuition treatment, even while illegal aliens can qualify for the lower rate.
The complaints also target financial assistance and scholarship provisions on top of the tuition price break. In DOJ’s view, the state laws put taxpayer-backed education benefits on the table for illegal aliens while American citizens are denied equal access.
The department’s case is that these policies discriminate against U.S. citizens, create incentives for more illegal immigration, and directly conflict with federal law. That is why DOJ is asking federal courts to enjoin enforcement in Massachusetts and Rhode Island while the cases move forward.
The release also places the two filings inside a broader enforcement push, saying they are the third in-state tuition lawsuits in the past week and bring the department’s total in this series to 12.
That detail matters because DOJ is not treating this as a one-off fight with two governors. It is building a national challenge to the same policy model wherever blue states keep it alive.
Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward tied the filings to President Trump’s promise that illegal aliens will not receive taxpayer benefits or preferential treatment over American citizens.
Assistant Attorney General Brett Shumate put the Civil Division’s argument in plain terms: colleges cannot give illegal aliens benefits they refuse to U.S. citizens.
His warning was the line blue-state officials will hate most. American students should not be treated like second-class citizens in their own country.
This is bigger than two states.
DOJ says these are the third such lawsuits in the past week, bringing the total in this series to 12.
The early results back up the strategy. Similar suits in Texas, Kentucky, Oklahoma, and Nebraska have already produced favorable orders permanently blocking and declaring unconstitutional the same kind of laws.
More cases are still pending in Illinois, Minnesota, Virginia, California, New Jersey, and Kansas.
That is a coast-to-coast campaign against a policy that quietly rewarded breaking immigration law with a discount.
The Massachusetts and Rhode Island filings are still at the complaint stage, so judges have not ruled on those two state laws.
DOJ is still walking into those cases with several recent orders already on the board, and the pattern is hard for blue-state officials to ignore.
For years, blue states sold these tuition perks as compassion while American families paid full freight and watched the rules bend for people who never had legal standing to be here.
Now the bill is coming due in federal court, one state at a time, and the Trump DOJ is the one collecting.
This is a Guest Post from our friends over at 100 Percent Fed Up. View the original article here.
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