The U.S. Department of Justice has filed a federal lawsuit challenging a Kentucky regulation that lets undocumented immigrants in the commonwealth pay in-state tuition at its colleges and universities.
In a June 17 release, U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi said the law amounts to “treat(ing) Americans like second-class citizens in their own country by offering financial benefits to illegal aliens.” Kentucky residents are offered lower tuition rates for in-state colleges than applicants from other states.
The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in the Eastern District of Kentucky, names Gov. Andy Beshear as a defendant, along with Kentucky Education Commissioner Robbie Fletcher and the Council on Postsecondary Education. It argues U.S. law prevents immigrants who are not living in the country legally from receiving a lower tuition rate than American citizens, with Kentucky’s statute promoting “unequal treatment of Americans (that) is squarely prohibited and preempted by federal law.”
U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi at her first press conference in February 2025. Bondi and the DOJ have sued Kentucky over a regulation offering undocumented students in-state tuition at colleges in the Bluegrass State.
In a statement, Beshear spokesperson Crystal Staley said the governor’s office has not been served the lawsuit and “had no advance notice, nor any prior discussion with the Department of Justice about it.” She also argued Beshear “has no authority to alter CPE’s regulations” and should not be a party to the lawsuit as a result.
“It appears this regulation was issued by the Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education (CPE) before 2010,” Staley said. “Under Kentucky law, CPE is independent, has sole authority to determine student residency requirements for the purposes of in-state tuition, and controls its own regulations.”
A spokesperson for Fletcher said he has no management or oversight responsibilities concerning state colleges and only serves as “the chief state school officer for elementary and secondary education in Kentucky.”
Melissa Young, senior fellow in communications for the CPE, told The Courier Journal the office had also not yet been served and had just learned of the lawsuit, noting its “staff general counsel is researching and reviewing all the pertinent state and federal laws and regulations … to determine next steps.”
The lawsuit quickly gained support from some Republicans in Kentucky.
State GOP spokesperson Andy Westberry called on Beshear to end the practice, arguing the lawsuit shows the governor’s “hand-picked appointees on the Council on Postsecondary Education are working to turn Kentucky into a shadow sanctuary state by providing taxpayer-funded benefits to individuals in the country illegally — benefits not available to U.S. citizens.”
And Rep. TJ Roberts, R-Burlington, commended the DOJ’s move in a separate statement, arguing the current law is “unconstitutional discrimination.” Roberts, who just completed his first legislative session in the spring, introduced House Bill 352 earlier this year, which took aim at in-state tuition rates and would have made several other changes to state law concerning undocumented immigrants at state colleges. The bill was assigned to a committee but did not advance.
Both Roberts and the DOJ pointed toward a recent ruling in Texas they said supports the lawsuit against Kentucky. Earlier in June, a Texas judge ruled a state law that gave in-state tuition rates to undocumented students is unconstitutional, following a federal lawsuit. State officials asked the court to side with the DOJ in that case and strike down the law.
“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 wrote.
Reach Lucas Aulbach at laulbach@courier-journal.com.
This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: DOJ sues KY for letting undocumented immigrants pay in-state tuition