The Justice Department has sued the University of Delaware over a tuition policy that gives in-state rates to certain Delaware residents regardless of immigration status while charging higher rates to United States citizens who live elsewhere.
The complaint argues that the policy conflicts with a federal statute restricting postsecondary education benefits based on state residence for people who are not lawfully present. The government asks the court to enjoin the university from continuing the policy and from adopting a replacement that provides the same preference.
The filing is an allegation, not a judgment. The university will be able to dispute the government’s account of its policy, the application of federal immigration law and the constitutional theory advanced in the complaint.
The case joins a broader federal campaign against state and university tuition rules for undocumented students. The department says it has filed 26 such suits and points to orders entered in several earlier cases. That history will matter, but it does not resolve this action: the Delaware policy, the university’s authority and the precise relationship between residency classifications and federal law must be tested on their own record.
The complaint also sharpens a recurring federalism question. States traditionally control tuition classifications at public institutions, yet Congress has attached conditions to the use of residence-based benefits for people without lawful immigration status. The court will have to decide whether Delaware’s approach crosses that statutory line and, if so, what relief is appropriate.
