Undocumented students in Virginia may not lose access to in-state college tuition after all, as the state’s new attorney general, Jay Jones, has pledged to fully defend the law, changing course from his predecessor, Jason Miyares.
The Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against Virginia on Dec. 29, 2025, to challenge the Dream Act, a 2020 state law granting in-state college tuition and financial aid eligibility to undocumented students who have attended Virginia high schools for at least two years and who have filed (or whose parents have filed) state income taxes for at least two years. Miyares sided with the DOJ in a Dec. 30, 2025, joint filing.
“My office will immediately reverse course, withdraw my predecessor’s flawed and legally incorrect position and fully defend Virginia’s in-state tuition law,” Jones announced upon his inauguration on Jan. 17.
In its lawsuit, the Trump administration argues that the state’s policy conflicts with the 1996 Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act by granting educational benefits to undocumented students that are not available to U.S. citizens from other states, Reuters reported.
“I think the logic that the DOJ is utilizing is very faulty,” Legal Defense Fund Senior Counsel Antonio Ingram told Charlottesville Tomorrow. “They’re essentially saying undocumented students are getting benefits that citizens from other states cannot get in Virginia, but I think that’s a faulty framing, because the comparative population is fellow Virginia residents, not U.S. citizens.”
“That’s why the Dream Act in Virginia was passed,” Ingram added. “Because they grew up in these communities, they went to high school in these communities, and they have no other country to call home.”
More than 10,000 undocumented Virginia college students could be impacted by a change to the law, according to 29News. On Dec. 31, 2025, the Legal Aid Justice Center and ACLU filed motions on behalf of Virginia’s Dream Project to intervene in the lawsuit.
Now that Jones has changed course for Virginia, a lengthy legal battle could be ahead, Ingram told Charlottesville Tomorrow. The case could move through full federal litigation, including motions, hearings and potentially appeals to the Fourth Circuit and beyond.
Even if the law remains in effect in the short term, disputes over federal preemption and equal-protection arguments could keep the case tied up in court for months or years, especially if either side appeals an unfavorable ruling.
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More about the federal government and UVA
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Attorney general says Virginia should end in-state tuition for undocumented students
This latest development comes after the Trump administration sued the state over the Virginia Dream Act, which grants in-state tuition and financial aid eligibility to undocumented students who graduated from Virginia high schools.
A timeline of UVA under the Trump administration
Beginning with Department of Justice investigations that led to the ouster of President Jim Ryan in the summer of 2025, UVA has experienced unprecedented levels of federal government intervention.
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