The Department of Justice filed a civil complaint on April 28, 2026, in federal court challenging two New Jersey statutes that extend in-state tuition rates and state financial aid to undocumented immigrants enrolled in public colleges and universities [1]. The complaint asserts that the laws conflict with federal immigration statutes and are therefore preempted under the Supremacy Clause.
The targeted statutes allow undocumented students who attended and graduated from New Jersey high schools to pay in-state tuition at public institutions and to qualify for state-administered financial assistance programs [1]. The federal government's preemption argument centers on provisions of federal immigration law that bar states from conferring postsecondary educational benefits on undocumented individuals on a more favorable basis than citizens and nationals of the United States, unless Congress has expressly authorized such benefits [1]. New Jersey's laws, the complaint contends, operate outside any such congressional authorization and therefore cannot stand.
The lawsuit is part of a broader enforcement posture adopted by the Trump administration targeting state and local policies that the federal government characterizes as conferring benefits on individuals present in the country without lawful status [1]. New Jersey is among more than a dozen states that have enacted similar in-state tuition measures, meaning the complaint's legal theory, if sustained, would carry significant implications beyond New Jersey's borders. The state has not yet filed a formal response to the complaint, and no injunctive relief motion appears to have been filed simultaneously with the complaint at the time of the DOJ announcement.
The case will be litigated in federal district court. New Jersey is expected to defend the statutes on grounds that include the state's authority to structure its own higher education funding and a competing reading of the federal statutory provisions at issue. Courts in other jurisdictions have reached varied conclusions on preemption challenges to similar state tuition policies, and the matter may ultimately require resolution at the circuit level or above. The outcome will affect thousands of students currently enrolled at New Jersey public colleges and universities under the challenged benefit structure [1].
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