The Justice Department filed suit this week challenging California’s decades-old laws that let certain undocumented students pay in-state tuition and access state scholarships. The DOJ argues the policies unlawfully provide benefits not available to all U.S. citizens; California officials and public university systems defend the statutes as state-level education policy and key to access. Multiple outlets reported the filing and its rapid escalation: the complaint names Gov. Gavin Newsom and the governing boards of California’s public systems, and marks one in a series of federal suits against states with similar tuition waivers. State higher-education leaders warn the litigation could threaten access for roughly 100,000 undocumented students in California and unsettle scholarship and enrollment planning. The case will test tensions between federal enforcement and long-standing state residency criteria for tuition and financial aid—stakes that extend to admissions, budgeting and compliance offices across public colleges nationwide.