Virginia officials reached an agreement with the Justice Department in its effort to bar undocumented students from receiving in-state tuition, sparking criticism from advocacy groups and the incoming Democratic state attorney general.
The Legal Aid Justice Center and the ACLU of Virginia filed an emergency motion to intervene in the case, saying affected students deserve a chance to be heard in court. It was filed on behalf of the Dream Project, which serves immigrant students pursuing higher education across Virginia.
“The Attorney General of Virginia has abandoned his duties to defend Virginia law and the people of the Commonwealth, so we must,” ACLU of VA senior immigrants’ rights attorney Sophia Gregg said in a statement, adding the agreement was an effort “to manufacture a predetermined outcome to deprive Virginian students of not only their futures but their day in court.”
The Justice Department sued Virginia on Monday, saying its in-state tuition benefit for undocumented students violated the law by favoring them over citizens from other states who wouldn’t otherwise qualify for the lower rates.
The following day, Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares (R), who leaves office later this month, entered an agreement with the Department of Justice asking for a consent judgment, essentially saying that his office would not defend the law in court. According to the motion, the “parties agree” that the Virginia policies violate federal law “insofar as they apply to aliens who are not lawfully present in the United States,” and requested the court to rule as such.
The proposed agreement follows similar deals reached in other Republican-led states with the Justice Department over tuition for undocumented students.
In Texas, a court approved a settlement within six hours of the Justice Department filing suit over that state’s tuition policy, and a similar agreement was reached in Oklahoma. Both resolutions remain under review by appellate courts.
The agreement in Texas sparked outcry from advocates who argued that the settlement deprived students of having a voice in court.
Similar backlash came in Virginia in recent days.
Incoming Gov. Abigail Spanberger (D), who takes office Jan. 17, declined to comment on the case Friday. But incoming Attorney General Jay Jones (D) said in a statement about Miyares’ decision that the lawsuit was an “attack on our students and a deliberate attempt to beat the clock to prevent a new administration from defending them.”
Jones, who also takes office this month, said his team is reviewing all legal options to fight the move.
On Friday, Shaun Kenney, a spokesman for Miyares, disputed criticisms that the agreement with the Justice Department was organized last-minute or handled in secret.
“It was not last-minute. For all the accusations one way or another, it just doesn’t wash,” Kenney said.
He also dismissed suggestions from critics that Miyares should have deferred to the incoming administration. “The AG was elected for a four-year term — no more, no less,” Kenney said.
A state law passed in 2020 allows all eligible Virginia high school graduates, regardless of their immigration status, to qualify for in-state tuition at Virginia’s public higher education institutions. Students still must meet certain educational and residency criteria, such as proving that they, or their families, pay taxes in the commonwealth.
In their court filing, advocates argued the Virginia measure was specifically designed to comply with federal law and has increased access to education for students who would otherwise not be able to afford to attend college in the state. The Presidents’ Alliance on Higher Education and Immigration, an advocacy group made up of U.S. college and university leaders, estimated about 13,000 undocumented students are enrolled in Virginia’s institutions. Roughly 510,000 undocumented students are estimated to be enrolled nationwide.
The cost to attend Virginia’s colleges and universities ranges by institution, but in-state tuition can generally save students tens of thousands of dollars a year. For example, in-state undergraduate tuition at the University of Virginia ranges from roughly $16,500 to $27,000, while the cost for out-of-state students can exceed $66,000.
In a news release, the ACLU of Virginia said that if a judge approved the DOJ agreement, students would be at risk of losing their in-state tuition status immediately. For some, the organization said, that could mean dropping out midyear.
Zuraya Tapia-Hadley, executive director of the Dream Project, said in an interview Friday that the organization’s intervention in the case was imperative to giving students a voice in court.
“We are hopeful that others will stand up to fight back in other states, and with us, against measures that are really only going to hurt our youth, not just today, but in the future,” Tapia-Hadley said. “What we don’t want is to lose the talent in the students that we currently have in the Commonwealth. And we don’t want to lose the great richness of talent that we’re now benefiting from thanks to in-state tuition.”
The Justice Department has similar lawsuits over tuition for undocumented students pending in Kentucky, Illinois, Minnesota and California.
Currently, 22 states and the District of Columbia have laws or policies that grant in-state tuition to undocumented students.
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