The U.S. Department of Justice and Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach on Wednesday asked a federal judge to strike down a 2004 state law that allows certain undocumented immigrants to pay in-state tuition rates at Kansas public colleges and universities, part of a broader Trump administration campaign against state-level Dream Act laws.
Federal prosecutors filed a lawsuit alleging that House Bill 2145 constitutes “blatant unequal treatment favoring illegal aliens over United States citizens.” Kobach, a Republican and longtime ally of President Donald Trump, entered a consent decree with the DOJ shortly after the lawsuit was filed, agreeing that the law is preempted by federal statute.
“This proposed consent decree demonstrates the quality of partnership between Kansas state leaders and the Department of Justice for the shared purpose of ensuring that federal tax dollars are not used to discriminate against Kansas’ lawful citizens,” U.S. Attorney Ryan Kriegshauser for the District of Kansas said in a statement.
Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly, a Democrat, quickly filed a motion to intervene, accusing Kobach of refusing to defend the state law. “There are many ways that we could, and should, work together to fix this country’s broken immigration system. However, the federal government using its resources to target Kansans who were brought to the United States as children does nothing to solve the fundamental issues our nation faces,” she said in a statement.
The filing comes after Kansas’ Republican-controlled legislature passed a bill to end the in-state tuition benefits, which Kelly vetoed. The legislature did not override the veto. In her statement, Kelly said Kobach’s attempt to overturn the law via consent decree goes against the will of Kansans. “In pursuing higher education, these young Kansans are a net benefit to our entire state, gaining the education and training needed to be valuable members of our workforce and contribute to our economy,” she said.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Kansas also rebuked the Justice Department and Kobach. “This is a cruel misuse of our courts and a coordinated attack by the federal government and our own attorney general on children who have grown up and live in Kansas,” Micah Kubic, executive director of the ACLU of Kansas, said in a statement. “For decades, Kansas in-state tuition has opened doors for students who have persevered to become healthcare workers, teachers, attorneys and other professionals and make this state better. This is an aggressive attempt to slam that door shut and punish young Kansans who dare to dream.”
The lawsuit is the 10th the Justice Department has filed challenging state in-state tuition laws for immigrants without legal status. Of those, four — in Texas, Kentucky, Oklahoma and Nebraska — were resolved through consent decrees, according to the DOJ. The other five states, all led by Democrats, continue to fight the challenges. “Kansas’ unconstitutional and un-American laws should never have been passed in the first place and are prohibited by federal law,” Assistant Attorney General Brett Shumate of the Justice Department’s Civil Division said in a statement.
The action stems from an April 2025 executive order signed by Trump directing the attorney general to identify and stop state laws and policies “favoring aliens over any groups of American citizens,” specifically highlighting laws that “provide in-state higher education tuition to aliens but not to out-of-state American citizens.” Federal prosecutors allege that such laws violate federal law, which bars undocumented immigrants from receiving in-state tuition benefits unless citizens are eligible for the same benefit regardless of their state of residence.