Aug. 8 (UPI) -- The Justice Department filed a lawsuit this week challenging an Oklahoma law that provides eligible undocumented migrants with in-state tuition benefits, the latest litigation targeting migrants' access to higher education amid the Trump administration's crackdown on immigration.
Though announced Thursday, the lawsuit was filed Tuesday in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Oklahoma.
The law, approved by the state's legislature in 2007, offers in-state tuition at the 25 state-run colleges and universities to anyone -- including undocumented migrants -- who graduated from an Oklahoma high school and resided in the state with a parent or legal guardian while attending the state high school for at least two years before graduation.
The lawsuit argues the rule violates two of President Donald Trump's executive orders on immigration -- one signed Feb. 19 directing federal departments and agencies to ensure no taxpayer-funded benefits go to "unqualified aliens," and one April 28 ordering "appropriate" actions to end enforcement of laws and practices "favoring aliens over any groups of American citizens," including those in-state tuition to undocumented migrants.
