ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — The U.S. Department of Justice sued New Mexico on Thursday, challenging a two-decade-old state law that grants in-state college tuition and financial aid to students without legal immigration status while denying the same benefits to U.S. citizens who live outside the state.
The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court for the District of New Mexico, names the State of New Mexico, the New Mexico Higher Education Department and department Secretary Stephanie Rodriguez as defendants. It is one of four complaints the DOJ filed Thursday — the others target Arizona, Oregon and Washington — bringing the department’s total to 21 lawsuits nationwide against states with similar tuition laws.
At issue is Senate Bill 582, passed by the New Mexico Legislature in 2005. The law, codified at N.M. Stat. Ann. § 21-1-4.6, extends in-state tuition rates and state financial aid to any student, regardless of immigration status, who attended a New Mexico high school for at least one year and either graduated or earned a GED in the state. The Higher Education Department later implemented the law through what it calls the “Nondiscrimination principle,” a regulation requiring that any tuition rate or aid granted to state residents also be granted to those students.
The DOJ argues that framework violates Section 1623(a) of federal immigration law, a 1996 provision barring states from giving illegal aliens postsecondary education benefits based on residency unless U.S. citizens from other states get the same deal. The complaint contends New Mexico’s law does the opposite — extending resident tuition to illegal aliens while continuing to charge out-of-state American citizens the higher nonresident rate.
“Over 30 years ago, Congress made clear that States cannot put illegal aliens before our Nation’s own citizens,” Associate Attorney General Stanley E. Woodward Jr. said in a statement announcing the four filings. “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.”
Assistant Attorney General Brett A. Shumate, who leads the Justice Department’s Civil Division, called the matter straightforward. “This is a simple matter of federal law: colleges cannot provide benefits to illegal aliens that they do not provide to U.S. citizens,” Shumate said. “This Department of Justice will not tolerate American students being treated like second-class citizens in their own country.”
The complaint cites tuition figures from two of New Mexico’s public universities to illustrate the gap. The University of New Mexico charges in-state students roughly $11,585 a year in tuition and fees, compared with about $34,734 for nonresidents — a difference of more than $23,000. New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology charges residents about $10,084 versus roughly $31,655 for out-of-state students, according to the filing.
The DOJ is asking the court to declare SB 582 and its implementing regulation unconstitutional under the Supremacy Clause and to permanently bar the state from enforcing them.
The lawsuit’s reach could extend beyond tuition rates alone. New Mexico’s Opportunity Scholarship and Lottery Scholarship — which together cover up to 100% of tuition and fees for eligible residents — both require recipients to be New Mexico residents. Under the same HED regulation being challenged in this suit, students who qualify under SB 582’s criteria are treated as residents for that purpose as well. The complaint itself states that the Opportunity and Lottery scholarships are available to students “who are granted the nondiscrimination waiver.” That means a court order striking down the regulation could affect scholarship eligibility for students currently enrolled under the waiver, not just the tuition rate they pay.
The New Mexico Higher Education Department said Thursday it had not yet been served with the lawsuit. The department said it remains committed to expanding access to higher education in the state. “Financial aid eligibility requirements vary across programs, but are grounded in residency and academic participation within the state,” the department said.
The Trump administration has pursued the same legal theory against a growing list of states since last year. The DOJ has already won permanent injunctions or unconstitutionality rulings in Texas, Kentucky, Oklahoma, Nebraska and Illinois, including a favorable ruling from the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. A federal judge in Minnesota, however, recently ruled against the administration in a similar case — the one notable loss so far in the 21-state campaign.
