Trump’s Justice Department sued the University of Delaware for giving illegal immigrants in-state tuition rates while out-of-state Americans pay nearly three times more.
The Department of Justice filed a complaint last week challenging a University of Delaware tuition policy that lets certain illegal immigrants pay the resident rate while U.S. citizens from other states face the full nonresident bill, Fox News reported.
Delaware residents are charged about $15,740 per academic year. Non-Delaware residents are charged about $42,470. That is a $26,730 gap, with nonresident tuition running roughly 2.7 times the resident price. The DOJ says qualifying illegal immigrants can lock in the lower figure.
Associate Attorney General Stanley E. Woodward Jr. framed the case as a basic fairness fight under federal law.
"This Department of Justice’s efforts will not cease until we have challenged every state law or university policy that gives preferential treatment to illegal aliens over our nation’s own citizens."
Woodward added that Congress already barred the practice.
"Congress long ago made clear that states cannot give reduced tuition to illegal aliens not available to all Americans."
The suit leans on two statutes. One, 8 U.S.C. §1623(a), says an immigrant who is not lawfully present cannot receive a state-residency-based college benefit unless U.S. citizens can get that same benefit no matter which state they live in. The other, 8 U.S.C. §1621, makes the benefit independently unlawful when it comes from university policy instead of an enacted Delaware state law.
DOJ calls the University of Delaware approach “preempted twice over” and “blatant unequal treatment.” In plain terms, the department says the school cannot hand illegal immigrants a residency discount that out-of-state American students never see.
Woodward also pointed at state leadership for letting the arrangement stand.
"When a state attorney general allows her own state to violate federal law, this department must step in to enforce it."
Breitbart reported the Delaware filing is the 26th Justice Department challenge to in-state tuition for illegal immigrants and the first aimed at a university rather than a state. The coverage ties the case to an April 2025 executive order directing the attorney general to stop policies that favor non-citizens over U.S. citizens.
Under the school’s rules described in that reporting, illegal immigrants can qualify for the resident rate if they attended a Delaware high school for at least three years, graduated, and are seeking citizenship or residency. American families living one state over still pay the higher sticker price.
Assistant Attorney General Brett Shumate put the legal point in blunt terms.
"This is a simple matter of federal law: colleges cannot provide benefits to illegal aliens that they do not provide to U.S. citizens."
The university gave a short response and stopped there. “The University of Delaware is aware of the complaint filed last week by the U.S. Department of Justice, and we are reviewing it carefully. Because this is a pending legal matter, we will not comment further at this time,” the school told Fox News Digital.
Out-of-state American students already carry the heavier load. The DOJ numbers show they pay tens of thousands more each year than Delaware residents, and, under this policy, more than illegal immigrants who meet the school’s local criteria. That is not a minor accounting quirk. It is a direct transfer of advantage away from citizens.
Parents writing checks for the $42,000 rate are not abstract budget lines. They are lawful residents funding a public university while watching people who entered or remained illegally receive the cheaper seat. The statutes Congress wrote were meant to stop exactly that preference.
The administration has treated these tuition schemes as part of a wider immigration enforcement push, the same hard line that draws constant media fire and personal attacks on Trump from cable panels.
Delaware is described as the latest stop in a nationwide crackdown on immigration-related tuition benefits. The pattern is consistent: identify the preference, cite the 1996 limits, and force the institution into court when state officials will not.
White House allies have spent the midterm season arguing that Trump keeps defying the polls when he presses fights elites want dropped. Tuition preference for illegal immigrants sits in that same lane, clear law, clear numbers, and institutions that hoped no one would notice.
Rally crowds have heard the same theme of respect for the people who play by the rules, including on stops where Trump called the visit a sign of respect for places that backed him early. Lawful students and their families fit that standard. Discounted seats for illegal immigrants do not.
Court fights over institutional resistance are nothing new for this White House, including moments when Trump has voiced frustration after legal setbacks. The Delaware complaint keeps the pressure on the other side of the ledger: schools and states that treat federal immigration limits as optional.
The Justice Department has now put the University of Delaware on notice with statutes, dollar figures, and a public record of unequal treatment. American students from outside the state should not pay nearly triple so illegal immigrants can claim the resident rate. Federal law already said so. The lawsuit makes the university answer for ignoring it.
Citizens who follow the rules should never sit behind the higher price tag while illegal immigrants get the discount.