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The U.S. Department of Justice has filed a federal lawsuit against Kentucky, challenging a policy that grants in-state tuition to illegal immigrants while denying the same benefit to some American citizens.
Attorney General Pam Bondi announced the lawsuit this week, saying the policy violates the Constitution by unfairly favoring noncitizens over U.S. citizens from other states.
“No state can be allowed to treat Americans like second-class citizens in their own country by offering financial benefits to illegal aliens,” said Bondi.
“The Department of Justice just won on this exact issue in Texas, and we look forward to fighting in Kentucky to protect the rights of American citizens,” she added.
Filed in the Eastern District of Kentucky under the case name U.S. v. Andrew Beshear, the complaint targets the state’s tuition residency rules, arguing they unconstitutionally discriminate against U.S. citizens who do not qualify for in-state tuition rates.
Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear’s office responded by distancing the governor from the policy, which is enforced by the Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education (KCPE), an independent agency.
“We haven’t been served with this lawsuit and had no advance notice, nor any prior discussion with the Department of Justice about it,” Beshear spokesperson Crystal Staley told Fox News Digital.
Staley said the regulation was implemented before 2010 and maintained that the governor has no authority over KCPE’s tuition policies. “The governor has no authority to alter CPE’s regulations and should not be a party to the lawsuit,” she added.
Republicans in the state legislature sharply criticized the policy and blamed Beshear. State Rep. T.J. Roberts of Burlington said he has introduced legislation, House Bill 352, aimed at removing illegal immigrants from eligibility for Kentucky residency status when calculating tuition rates.
Roberts praised Bondi and former President Donald Trump for challenging what he described as a constitutional violation.
“The Beshear administration has been given the chance to right this wrong – first when I introduced legislation to shed light on the issue, and again following a successful legal challenge in Texas,” Roberts said. “Unfortunately, the governor has chosen to ignore those opportunities and instead continues to defy the Constitution, manipulate the regulatory process to advance his own agenda, and misuse the powers of his office to elevate his national political ambitions. It’s a shameful disservice to the people of Kentucky.”
