The U.S. government has filed suit against the New Mexico Higher Education Department regarding a program that has operated for two decades. The initiative grants in-state tuition along with scholarships and grants to immigrants who finished their schooling inside the state, without regard to citizenship status.

Attorneys for the United States argued in the Thursday filing in federal district court that national law bars individuals present unlawfully from obtaining postsecondary education benefits whenever those same benefits are unavailable to citizens living in other states.

The complaint states there are no exceptions and notes that New Mexico has disregarded the congressional restriction for more than twenty years.

New Mexico was one of four states, together with Arizona, Oregon and Washington, named in actions brought by the Justice Department on Thursday. Officials described the policies as granting preferential treatment to illegal aliens. The new cases add to seventeen earlier suits filed against other states over in-state tuition rules for undocumented immigrants.

Associate Attorney General Stanley E. Woodward Jr. said the department has now sued twenty-one states alleged to be circumventing the congressional ban on elevating aliens above citizens. He added that enforcement will continue until the promise is kept that illegal aliens will not receive benefits denied to American citizens.

The suit requests a permanent order barring New Mexico from enforcing the 2005 statute known as Senate Bill 582.

A spokesperson for the New Mexico Higher Education Department said the agency had not yet received formal notice of the complaint. While reviewing the matter, the department remains committed to broadening higher education access for state residents through programs that strengthen the workforce and create talent pipelines.

‘Not an easy bill to get through’

SB 582 cleared the Legislature in 2005 by votes of 28-3 in the Senate and 41-26 in the House. The measure extends benefits to all state residents regardless of immigration status, provided they attended a New Mexico secondary school for at least one year or earned a high school diploma or GED inside the state.

Former state Sen. Cynthia Nava, who sponsored the legislation, recalled in an interview that passage required substantial effort and faced considerable opposition. She noted that nearly every legislator knew constituents who would benefit, which helped secure bipartisan backing at the time, though she questioned whether similar support would emerge today.

Nava, drawing from her experience as a border-district superintendent, described students who excelled in high school yet could not continue to college. She said the measure has functioned as an economic multiplier and warned that its loss would be harmful.

The nonprofit Somos Un Pueblo Unido assisted with the original legislation. Its director said the policy aligns with workforce development goals and has delivered economic gains. She expressed confidence in the state’s legal position and anticipated a strong defense against the suit.

‘A responsibility to respond’

New Mexico is also defending a separate federal case filed in May that challenges House Bill 9, the Immigrant Safety Act. That measure limits state and local cooperation with federal immigration enforcement. The government contends the law unconstitutionally interferes with federal authority.

The complaint names Albuquerque and was later expanded to include Bernalillo and Doña Ana counties. Santa Fe may soon be added after local leaders proposed rules restricting federal agents from staging operations on city property, modeled on Albuquerque ordinances.

Mayor Michael Garcia voiced support for the measures, stating that the city possesses some of the strongest protections in the state and will proceed even if litigation follows, because officials have a duty to safeguard residents.