President Trump’s Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against Democrat Governor Andy Beshear and Kentucky state education officials for providing in-state college tuition to illegal aliens—while making out-of-state U.S. citizens pay full price.
The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky, targets Beshear, Education Commissioner Robbie Fletcher, and the Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education (CPE) for violating federal law and the U.S. Constitution’s Supremacy Clause.
At the center of the controversy is a Kentucky regulation—13 Ky. Admin. Regs. 2:045 § 8(4)(a)—which allows illegal immigrants who graduate from Kentucky high schools to receive dramatically discounted in-state tuition, even as American citizens from neighboring states are forced to pay much higher rates.
“No state can be allowed to treat Americans like second-class citizens in their own country by offering financial benefits to illegal aliens,” said Attorney General Pamela 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.”
The DOJ’s complaint points out that federal law, specifically 8 U.S.C. § 1623(a), explicitly prohibits states from granting in-state tuition to illegal aliens unless all U.S. citizens—regardless of residency—are given the same benefit. Kentucky’s law does the exact opposite, creating a two-tiered system that punishes Americans while rewarding lawbreakers.
To make matters worse, Kentucky never passed a state law affirmatively approving this benefit for illegal aliens—another violation of federal law under 8 U.S.C. § 1621(d). Instead, the benefit was granted through bureaucratic regulation, bypassing the legislative process entirely.
The lawsuit also cites recent Trump Executive Orders aimed at ending taxpayer subsidization of illegal immigration. Executive Order 14218, signed in February 2025, mandates that no taxpayer-funded benefits be given to unqualified aliens.
And EO 14287 makes clear: any law that gives better treatment to illegal aliens than to American citizens is unlawful and unenforceable.
Read the complaint below:
