Judge scraps Trump challenge to in-state tuition for immigrant students in Virginia

The federal government claimed the Virginia Dream Act created a residency requirement that benefitted noncitizens living in Virginia at the expense of out-of-state students.RICHMOND, Va. (CN) — In the latest case over the Trump administration’s attempt at leveraging the Constitution’s supremacy clause against state immigration policy, a federal judge upheld a Virginia law creating in-state tuition rate pathways for immigrant university students on Monday.Granting summary judgment to the commonwealth, Senior U.S. District Judge Robert Payne found both the domicile pathway and the tuition equity pathway of 2020’s Virginia Dream Act aren’t preempted by federal law as the government claimed.The federal government had cited the 1996 Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act, which forbids states from offering tuition benefits for immigrant students based on residence within a state without offering the same benefit to out-of-state citizens.Payne, a George H.W. Bush appointee, said the domicile-based, in-state tuition provision doesn’t apply to immigrants because of guidance from the state-empowered State Council of Higher Education for Virginia, which stated immigrant students categorically cannot have a Virginia domicile.​"Because undocumented students are not eligible for in-state tuition under the domicile pathway, the domicile pathway law is neither in conflict with, nor preempted by, Section 1623 (a)," Payne said. “The domicile pathway does not positively state or confirm that undocumented students are eligible for in-state tuition. It does not expressly state that undocumented students are eligible for in-state tuition. It is silent as to the effect of immigration status.”Though the federal government argued the tuition equity pathway’s conditions create a residency requirement, the judge similarly dismissed those claims because it is not based on an student’s residence.​"It is based on high school attendance in Virginia, graduation from a high school in Virginia, passage of an equivalency test, or income tax return filings," Payne said. “The tuition equity pathway is both under- and overinclusive of Virginia residency and is not, as the United States claims, a ‘proxy’ for residency.”​Payne said the pathway is underinclusive because not all Virginia residents would necessarily qualify.Payne offered an example of a Virginia resident who attends private school in another state as someone who doesn’t qualify. Payne said the policy is overinclusive because non-resident legal citizens can qualify, such as residents of Maryland or West Virginia who attend school across the Virginia border.​"The tuition equity pathway does not, directly or indirectly, provide in-state tuition ‘based on residence,’" Payne said. “Instead, it provides a number of ways for non-residents to qualify for in-state tuition. And, none of those ways are ‘based on’ residence.”​Payne further agreed with the commonwealth that the policy complies with federal law because the state provides other ways for non-residents to receive in-state tuition. The academic common market pathway, for instance, is available to students from any of the 14 states in the Southern Regional Education Compact, so long as they seek a degree in a program not available in their home state.Average annual undergraduate tuition in the 2025-2026 school year was just shy of $10,000 for in-state students, while out-of-state students paid over $28,000, not including room and board, according to the Virginia State Council of Higher Education. A little over 1,200 students not domiciled in Virginia used the Virginia Dream Act to qualify for in-state tuition last school year.​The Trump administration has sued states including New Jersey, Minnesota, California and Illinois over similar tuition assistance programs.​"Today’s ruling is a win for Virginia’s students and for our commonwealth’s future," Virginia Attorney General Jay Jones said in a statement. “Students who grow up in Virginia and whose families contribute to the state’s tax base deserve access to affordable, in-state higher education, and this ruling affirms that Virginia is best equipped to make that decision, not Donald Trump.”Former Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares, a Republican, previously asked the court to declare the Virginia Dream Act invalid with just over two weeks left in office.​Payne noted that the federal government is likely to appeal. Representatives from the Justice Department did not respond to a request for comment.Subscribe to our free newslettersOur weekly newsletter Closing Arguments offers the latest about ongoing trials, major litigation and rulings in courthouses around the U.S. and the world, while the monthly Under the Lights dishes the legal dirt from Hollywood, sports, Big Tech and the arts.Additional Reads