Using Lawsuits To Provide Equal Benefits For Americans

On Monday, The College Fix posted an article about the program in the Commonwealth of Virginia that provides in-state tuition for illegal aliens.

The article reports:

Virginia’s outgoing Attorney General Jason Miyares quickly agreed to a consent decree to resolve a Justice Department lawsuit filed against the state in late December challenging laws allowing students in the country illegally to qualify for in-state tuition and financial aid at public colleges and universities.

“In a joint court filing, Miyares and lawyers for the Justice Department asked a federal judge to declare the Virginia Dream Act invalid and bar state authorities from enforcing it. If approved, the joint consent decree order would make Virginia the fourth state to scrap its policies that allow eligible undocumented students to pay the lower in-state tuition rate,” Inside Higher Ed reported Jan. 2.

“The joint agreement came just one day after the Trump administration sued Virginia over its in-state tuition policies—the seventh such lawsuit.”

A Dec. 30 news release from the Justice Department announcing the lawsuit had stated: “These laws unconstitutionally discriminate against U.S. citizens who are not afforded the same reduced tuition rates, scholarships, or subsidies, create incentives for illegal immigration, and reward illegal immigrants with benefits that U.S. citizens are not eligible for, all in direct conflict with federal law.”

The article concludes:

Similarly, Virginia followed suit, prompting an appeal, WRIC reported: “In a Dec. 31 joint press release, the Legal Aid Justice Center, the ACLU of Virginia and the Dream Project announced that they had filed an emergency motion to intervene in a federal lawsuit that took aim at both undocumented and refugee students in Virginia.”

“The Attorney General of Virginia has abandoned his duties to defend Virginia law and the people of the Commonwealth, so we must,” said ACLU-VA Senior Immigrants’ Rights Attorney Sophia Gregg in the release. “Attorney General Jason Miyares has sided with the Department of Justice — intentionally working in secrecy and over a holiday weekend — to manufacture a predetermined outcome to deprive Virginian students of not only their futures but their day in court.”

If  you are going to give in-state tuition rates to people who are here illegally, why not just give everyone in-state tuition rates?