Overview
- The Justice Department filed the complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California on Thursday.
- The suit names Gov. Gavin Newsom, Attorney General Rob Bonta, the UC Board of Regents, the Cal State Board of Trustees, and the Community Colleges Board of Governors.
- Prosecutors argue a 1996 federal law bars residency-based postsecondary benefits for people without legal status, a claim U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi underscored in a public statement.
- The challenge targets AB 540’s in-state rates for high school graduates and seeks to roll back parts of the California Dream Act that provide state-funded aid.
- Reporting estimates the policies touch thousands of students, including roughly 2,000–4,000 at UC, about 9,500 at CSU, and around 70,000 in community colleges, and the filing follows similar DOJ suits against multiple states.