Court checks Pritzker as Trump administration scores another immigration win

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker was dealt a major legal blow Friday after a federal judge gutted key state laws providing in-state tuition, financial aid and scholarships to illegal immigrants, marking another win for the Trump administration's nationwide immigration agenda.

U.S. District Judge Stephen McGlynn, a Trump appointee serving in the Southern District of Illinois, sided with the Justice Department, ruling that Illinois' in-state tuition policies, the RISE Act and the Illinois DREAM Act are "unconstitutional and invalid" as applied to illegal immigrants.

The ruling permanently prevents Illinois from enforcing the laws, although McGlynn delayed the order from taking effect for 14 days to allow the state to ask an appeals court to intervene.

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U.S. Attorney Steven Weinhoeft celebrated the ruling.

"Illinois sought to incentivize illegal immigration on the taxpayer's dime by treating illegal aliens better than U.S. citizens living in other states, in clear violation of federal law," Weinhoeft said in a statement. "This ruling enforces the statute Congress wrote and stops the State from putting illegal aliens ahead of American citizens."

The decision is the latest victory for the Trump administration's effort to dismantle state laws extending higher education benefits to illegal immigrants and comes one day after the Justice Department filed a similar lawsuit against Colorado.

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The Justice Department filed the lawsuit against Illinois and a handful of colleges in September 2025, arguing that Illinois violated federal law by offering in-state tuition and financial aid to illegal immigrants without making those same benefits available to all U.S. citizens regardless of where they live.

McGlynn granted the federal government's motion for summary judgment and denied Illinois' motion to dismiss.

The ruling invalidates Illinois' in-state tuition rules, the RISE Act, which provides access to state financial aid for certain students ineligible for federal aid, and the Illinois DREAM Act, which established scholarship opportunities for eligible students.

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Rep. Mary Miller, R-Ill. praised the decision on X.

"This is a win for Illinois taxpayers and American students who were shut out while Pritzker prioritized foreigners in our country illegally," Miller wrote.

The Justice Department has won or reached settlements in similar cases involving Texas, Kentucky, Oklahoma and Nebraska, with Nebraska agreeing to end in-state tuition benefits for illegal immigrants as part of a settlement. Lawsuits remain pending against Minnesota, Virginia, California, New Jersey, Kansas, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Maryland and now Colorado.

In its lawsuit filed Thursday against Colorado, the Justice Department argued the state's ASSET Act and related policies unlawfully provide lower tuition rates and state financial aid to illegal immigrants while denying those same benefits to out-of-state U.S. citizens.

"For three decades, Congress has made clear that Colorado cannot give education benefits to illegal aliens that it does not give to all American citizens," Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward said. "By granting illegal aliens in-state tuition, Colorado is not only violating federal law but subsidizing education for illegal aliens at taxpayers' expense."

"Our litigation efforts will not cease until we have fulfilled President Trump's promise that illegal aliens will not obtain preferential treatment over our nation's own citizens," he added.

Colorado Gov. Jared Polis' office defended the state's policies.

"The federal government seizing control of determining in-state tuition across the country is absurd," a Polis spokesperson previously told Fox News Digital. "In Colorado, we are expanding access to education to provide students with the skills to get good-paying jobs and doubling down on strategies to save students money."

Fox News Digital reached out to Pritzker's office for comment.