Posted on 11/21/2025 5:35:08 PM PST by Bullish
In-state tuition for illegals, Mask Ban for Federal Officers, Sanctuary cities
The Department of Justice has filed multiple lawsuits against California, challenging its sanctuary state policies, which allegedly obstruct federal law enforcement, as well as immigration enforcement.
The DOJ says the aim of these lawsuits is to hold California accountable for laws that the DOJ claims discriminate against U.S. citizens and undermine federal law.
In February California Governor Gavin Newsom defiantly signed legislation authorizing a $50 million legal slush fund to “Trump-proof” the state against the President – $50 million that the state doesn’t have so State Attorney General Rob Bonta can spend more time and taxpayer money to file lawsuits against the Trump administration in an attempt to defend California’s indefensible leftist policies.
The Globe noted that it’s about time the people have an U.S. Attorney General holding all states accountable. California’s sanctuary state laws put every resident in danger, and cost taxpayers a shocking amount of money.
The most recent of these federal lawsuits was filed this week against the State of California and its public university systems. The DOJ alleges that offering in-state college tuition rates to illegal immigrants who graduate from California high schools is illegal.
In-State Tuition and Financial Aid for Illegal Aliens
Filed November 20, 2025, the DOJ is challenging California laws that provide in-state tuition, scholarships, and subsidized loans to illegal aliens. The lawsuit says California’s sanctuary laws discriminate against U.S. citizens and incentivize illegal immigration.
And it is important to recognize that the state of California has been making substantial financial investments in the futures of people who legally cannot get a job after graduation.
“Yet California Education Code (“Cal. Educ. Code”) § 68130.5 extends eligibility for in-state tuition benefits at state postsecondary educational institutions, including resident tuition, scholarships, and subsidized loans, to illegal aliens, while requiring U.S. citizens from other states to pay higher tuition rates,” the lawsuit states.
“This unequal treatment is squarely prohibited and preempted by federal law, which expressly provides that ‘an alien who is not lawfully present in the United States shall not be eligible on the basis of residence within a State . . . for any postsecondary education benefit unless a citizen or national of the United States is eligible for such a benefit . . . without regard to whether the citizen or national is such a resident.’ 8 U.S.C. § 1623(a) (emphasis added). Cal. Educ.Code § 68130.5 is thus unconstitutional under the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution, and this Court should declare it illegal and permanently enjoin its enforcement.”
“California is illegally discriminating against American students and families by offering exclusive tuition benefits for non-citizens,” U.S. Atty. Gen. Pam Bondi said in a Department of Justice statement, saying the state has a “flagrant disregard for federal law.”
The Department of Justice’s complaint is filed in the Eastern District of California against the State of California, Governor Newsom, the State Attorney General, and the Regents of the University of California, the Board of Trustees of the California State University, and the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges seeking to order the State from enforcing the California sanctuary in-state tuition laws for illegal aliens, and bring them into compliance with federal requirements.
In the complaint, the United States seeks to enjoin enforcement of California laws that requires colleges and universities to provide in-state tuition rates for all aliens who maintain California residency, regardless of whether those aliens are lawfully present in the United States. Additionally, the complaint seeks to enjoin California from enforcing its so-called “California Dream Act” which affords scholarships and subsidized loans to illegal aliens, the DOJ says.
This lawsuit follows two executive orders signed by President Donald Trump that seek to ensure illegal aliens are not obtaining taxpayer benefits or preferential treatment: “Ending Taxpayer Subsidization of Open Borders” and “Protecting American Communities From Criminal Aliens.” This lawsuit also follows similar tuition lawsuits in Texas, Kentucky, Illinois, Oklahoma, and Minnesota, the DOJ said.
“The DOJ has now filed three meritless, politically motivated lawsuits against California in a single week. Good luck, Trump. We’ll see you in court,” Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office said in response.
As I reported in 2011:
Gov. Jerry Brown signed into law AB 130, the “California Dream Act of 2011,” authored by Assemblyman Gil Cedillo, D-Los Angeles. The Dream Act will allow students who are in the country illegally to pay in-state tuition and apply for grants and private-college scholarships, competing with legal residents of the state.
The California Dream Act merely rewards illegal behavior while placing a new financial burden on California taxpayers.
Despite multiple vetoes of previous Dream Act bills by former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, Brown signed Cedillo’s bill on Monday. But Schwarzenegger’s last veto message still resonates: “Given the precarious fiscal condition the state faces at this time, it would not be prudent to place additional demands on our limited financial aid resources as specified in this bill.”
The underlying principles used in the creation of the California college and university system were “for all regardless of their economic means,” and that academic progress was only to be “limited by individual proficiency.” The passage of the Dream Act just eroded these principles.
Many involved in California’s education system have been critical for many years of the disregard for state and federal immigration laws by the Legislature and governors.
Federal law states that illegal immigrants “shall not be eligible on the basis of residence within a state for any postsecondary education benefit … unless a U.S. citizen or national is eligible for such benefit without regard to whether he is a resident.”
Mask Ban and Identification Requirements for Federal Officers
Four days ago, November 17, 2025, the Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against the State of California, Governor Gavin Newsom, and Attorney General Robert Bonta challenging their unconstitutional attempt to regulate federal law enforcement officers through the so-called “No Secret Police Act” and “No Vigilantes Act.”
The DOJ contests California’s laws that regulate federal law enforcement officers, arguing they threaten officer safety and violate federal authority.
In Dem Senators Want Law Enforcement Unmasked – Yet Mandated Yet Mandated Mask Wearing For 3 Years’ In CA During COVID, the Globe reported that the state’s Democrats are now pushing for ICE agents and members of law enforcement to unmask themselves.
California State Senators Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) and Jesse Arreguin (D-Berkeley) are the authors of SB 627, the “No Secret Police Act” to prohibit law enforcement at all levels from covering their faces while conducting operations in the state of California.
The bill also requires officers to be identifiable on their uniform.
The DOJ said:
Not only are the laws illegal attempts to discriminate against and regulate the federal government, but, as alleged in the complaint, the laws threaten the safety of federal officers who have faced an unprecedented wave of harassment, doxxing, and even violence. Threatening officers with prosecution for simply protecting their identities and their families also chills the enforcement of federal law and compromises sensitive law enforcement operations. The danger is acute.
“Law enforcement officers risk their lives every day to keep Americans safe, and they do not deserve to be doxed or harassed simply for carrying out their duties,” said Attorney General Pamela Bondi. “California’s anti-law enforcement policies discriminate against the federal government and are designed to create risk for our agents. These laws cannot stand.”
“The Department of Justice will steadfastly protect the privacy and safety of law enforcement from unconstitutional state laws like California’s,” said Assistant Attorney General Brett A. Shumate of the Justice Department’s Civil Division.
“Assaults against federal agents have exploded over the last few months, thanks in part to recklessness political rhetoric aiming to delegitimize our brave agents,” said First Assistant United States Attorney Bill Essayli of the Central District of California. “Unconstitutional laws such as this one further endanger our brave men and women protecting our community. Our immigration enforcement will continue unabated and unhindered by unconstitutional state laws enacted by irresponsible politicians.”
Ironically, California politicians are the same people who mandated masks on everyone’s faces in California, including babies and children, during the coronavirus flu outbreak, while locking 40 million people down for 3 years.
It’s as nutty as California Governor Gavin Newsom calling President Donald Trump an authoritarian, when Newsom ordered California locked down for 3 years, mandated masks, social distancing and the covid shot, to go back to work and school.
Sanctuary City Policies in Los Angeles
In June, the Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against the City of Los Angeles, California, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, and the Los Angeles City Council over policies that Los Angeles enacted shortly after President Donald J. Trump’s reelection to interfere with the federal government’s enforcement of its immigration laws.
This lawsuit targets Los Angeles for its sanctuary city policies, which the DOJ says interfere with federal immigration enforcement. The DOJ alleges these policies contribute to increased lawlessness and violence.
The DOJ said:
Not only are Los Angeles’s “sanctuary city” policies illegal under federal law, but, as alleged in the complaint, Los Angeles’s refusal to cooperate with federal immigration authorities contributed to the recent lawlessness, rioting, looting, and vandalism that was so severe that it required the federal government to deploy the California National Guard and the United States Marines to quell the chaos.
“Sanctuary policies were the driving cause of the violence, chaos, and attacks on law enforcement that Americans recently witnessed in Los Angeles,” said Attorney General Pamela Bondi. “Jurisdictions like Los Angeles that flout federal law by prioritizing illegal aliens over American citizens are undermining law enforcement at every level – it ends under President Trump.”
“Today’s lawsuit holds the City of Los Angeles accountable for deliberately obstructing the enforcement of federal immigration law,” said U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli for the Central District of California. “The United States Constitution’s Supremacy Clause prohibits the City from picking and choosing which federal laws will be enforced and which will not. By assisting removable aliens in evading federal law enforcement, the City’s unlawful and discriminatory ordinance has contributed to a lawless and unsafe environment that this lawsuit will help end.”
California still is home to the largest illegal-alien population in the country, initially with 35 sanctuary cities, morphing into the full state as a sanctuary, courtesy of California’s Democrat lawmakers.
How did California become a sanctuary state?
In 2017, opportunistic California Democrats authored bills to counter the immigration executive orders to protect Americans, of President Donald J. Trump – in violation of Trump’s constitutional authority.
Then-Senate President Pro Tem De León, D-Los Angeles, the author of Senate Bill 54, claimed that “immigrants are valuable and essential members of the California community” and all attempts to enforce immigration laws create fear of the police among “immigrant community members” who fear “approaching police when they are victims of, and witnesses to, crimes.”
SB 54 passed the California Legislature entirely along party lines, Gov. Jerry Brown signed it into law, and turned California into a sanctuary state. Gavin Newsom made it worse.
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No Demo could win any election in CaCaLand if not for the mailin ballots provided to illegals. Been that way for over a decade.
Those mail out/mail in ballots are not ever going away if the democrats have their way. It’s a gold mine of election fraud for them. Clear sailing for stealing elections in perpetuity.
They are not "immigrants," Mr. De León, valuable only to Democrats as illegal stand-ins as "voters." Everybody knows it and so do you.
Democrat vote cows ?
The cheap grunt labor has always been a welcome by-product of the election fraud perpetrated by the vote rigging democrats here. They don’t ever like to talk about it. I’m surprised De León even brought it up.
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