Overview
- The 13-page complaint was filed Dec. 29 in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia in Richmond, and a judge has not yet been assigned.
- Virginia’s post-2021 policy allows certain students without lawful status who meet residency or attendance requirements to pay in-state rates and qualify for some state-administered financial aid.
- The Justice Department cites the Supremacy Clause and 8 U.S.C. §1623, asserting the state confers residence-based benefits to people unlawfully present that are not equally available to out-of-state U.S. citizens.
- Attorney General Pamela Bondi said schools cannot provide benefits to noncitizens that they do not provide to U.S. citizens, as DOJ seeks a permanent injunction blocking the provisions.
- The case joins a broader DOJ campaign that has produced settlements with Texas, Oklahoma, and Kentucky, with active litigation continuing in Illinois, California, and Minnesota, and it lands days before Virginia’s gubernatorial transition.