November 21, 2025
Los Angeles, Calif. (Nov. 21, 2025) – The California Immigrant Policy Center today issued the following statement regarding the Trump administration’s lawsuit against California’s in-state tuition program for undocumented students.
The program, established with bipartisan support under Assembly Bill 540 in 2001, allows undocumented students who completed high school in California to pay the same in-state tuition rates as other California resident students.
“All people, regardless of immigration status, deserve the opportunity to pursue higher education, because a better educated public makes our state stronger,” said Masih Fouladi, executive director of the California Immigrant Policy Center. “The Trump administration’s lawsuit is not only baseless, it’s foolish. Every day, tens of thousands of undocumented students go to state colleges and universities seeking a better future. With their talents and education, these students go on to start businesses, build professional careers for themselves, and help make California’s economy the fourth largest in the world. We should encourage their hard work and dedication as they pursue their dreams, not pull the rug from under them. California has gone through this fight before in the 1990s, when Proposition 187 sought to end public education for undocumented immigrant students, and we will not go back. We condemn this lawsuit and call on our state leaders to do everything they can to quash it.”
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