Arizona is facing a lawsuit for its practice of providing in-state tuition to illegal aliens while denying those benefits to citizens in other states.
The Department of Justice (DOJ) announced its lawsuit against the state on Thursday.
Arizona voters narrowly approved in-state tuition for illegal aliens through the legislatively referred ballot measure, Proposition 308, in 2022. The proposition, heavily backed by progressive out-of-state dark money, also repealed a statute prohibiting illegal aliens from receiving state-funded financial aid.
“Prop. 308 constitutes blatant unequal treatment favoring illegal aliens over U.S. citizens. Worse, such preferential treatment is squarely prohibited and preempted by federal law[,]” stated the complaint. “Arizona law rewards an illegal alien with eligibility for in-state tuition, based on residency within Arizona, while explicitly denying eligibility for resident tuition rates to U.S. citizens who are not Arizona residents.”
According to a January report from the Arizona Center for Investigative Reporting, at least 720 illegal aliens have received in-state tuition at Arizona public universities and colleges since 2022. More than 400 of those illegal alien students attended Arizona State University.
Those totals may not be reflective of the whole, since only seven out of 22 schools were reportedly able to provide that data.
The DOJ estimated the total of illegal alien students represented $10.5 million in reduced tuition.
Worth noting: The financial calculations used in this lawsuit misinterpret AZCIR's findings. The number of students reported was cumulative since the program began, up until the fall 2025 semester (not in a single semester) pic.twitter.com/2jBVgNR1fr
As cited by the DOJ, federal law prohibits states from giving post-secondary education benefits to illegal aliens while denying them to American citizens residing in other states.
“Notwithstanding any other provision of law, an alien who is not lawfully present in the United States shall not be eligible on the basis of residence within a State (or a political subdivision) for any postsecondary education benefit unless a citizen or national of the United States is eligible for such a benefit (in no less an amount, duration, and scope) without regard to whether the citizen or national is such a resident,” states 8 U.S.C. § 1623(a).
The DOJ is also suing New Mexico, Oregon, and Washington for offering similar taxpayer-funded higher education to noncitizens. About half of the states in the union and the District of Columbia award in-state tuition rates to illegal aliens.
These lawsuits are the culmination of an effort directed by President Donald Trump last spring.
Last April, Trump issued an executive order calling on the four states to end in-state college tuition for illegal aliens and ordering the attorney general to take the actions necessary to ensure the end of those practices.
“The Attorney General, in consultation with the Secretary of Homeland Security and appropriate agency heads, shall identify and take appropriate action to stop the enforcement of State and local laws, regulations, policies, and practices favoring aliens over any groups of American citizens that are unlawful, preempted by Federal law, or otherwise unenforceable, including State laws that provide in-State higher education tuition to aliens but not to out-of-State American citizens that may violate 8 U.S.C. 1623 or that favor aliens in criminal charges or sentencing,” read the executive order.
Attorney General Kris Mayes, through spokesman Richie Taylor, said the DOJ’s interpretation of the law was flawed, echoing an opinion issued by her office last year.
“Proposition 308, as written and approved by Arizona voters, doesn’t condition eligibility on residence, which is what the government alleges,” stated Taylor. “It conditions eligibility on whether a student attended and graduated from an Arizona high school (or homeschool equivalent). That’s the standard the voters wrote into law — tied to where a student attended school and where they graduated, not their residency.”
Rep. Andy Biggs (AZ-05), the Republican nominee for governor, immediately expressed support last year for Trump’s executive order to end disparities in tuition benefits for in-state students
“President Trump is right — US citizens shouldn’t pay more for college tuition than illegal aliens,” said Biggs.
President Trump is right – US citizens shouldn’t pay more for college tuition than illegal aliens.
I have supported legislation sponsored by @DrPaulGosar to clarify federal law and ensure illegal aliens don’t get benefits that Americans don’t.
Gov. Katie Hobbs has supported and sought to expand eligibility for in-state tuition rates to illegal aliens. During her inaugural State of the State Address in 2023, the governor asked the Republican-led legislature to earmark $40 million in the budget to provide in-state tuition for illegal aliens.
HAPPENING NOW – @GovernorHobbs is meeting with a group of young undocumented immigrants brought to Arizona as children. They’re sharing how the “Promise for Dreamers” program would benefit them. It would allocate $40 million for scholarships that would go to Dreamers. @KTAR923pic.twitter.com/iUKsSL8Qmc
Republican nominee for attorney general Warren Petersen is calling on Attorney General Kris Mayes to be more transparent about her decision to dismiss the pay-to-play investigation into Gov. Katie Hobbs.
Petersen said in a statement that Mayes has a duty to release all interview and deposition transcripts, referring to the seven-page analysis released earlier this week as a “cliffs notes report” lacking key information beneficial to the public.
“If Mayes is confident in the integrity of her investigation, she should have no problem allowing Arizonans to judge for themselves,” said Petersen. “Release the files.”
Mayes opened up her investigation into Hobbs more than two years ago based on allegations that the governor had engaged in pay-to-play with Sunshine Residential Homes, a group home operator that served as a major donor to Hobbs’ inauguration fund, her secret legal fund, and the Arizona Democratic Party.
A timeline of events and donations first put together in a June 2024 report by the Arizona Republic indicated that Hobbs had used her authority to ensure Sunshine Residential Homes got the rate increase it had sought and initially failed to secure.
Although Republican elected officials positioned themselves as the first to take investigatory action, Mayes called for them to stand down and announced she would take on the investigation. Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell and Auditor General Lindsey Perry were told that their investigatory efforts would be “[in]appropriate” that would potentially “jeopardize the integrity” of the investigation into Hobbs.
However, both Mitchell and Perry have continued their independent investigatory efforts. Erin Pellett, a spokesperson for Mitchell, was unable to provide an estimated end date for their investigation.
An advisory team formed specially within the Arizona House for the purpose of investigating the pay-to-play allegations also obtained outside counsel earlier this year and launched their own investigation into the matter. That team also has not published its findings.
And then last week — a little more than two years after Mayes announced her investigation, and several days after Hobbs made clear in a letter from lawyers that she wouldn’t do an in-person interview with Mayes — Mayes published a seven-page memorandum clearing Hobbs of any wrongdoing.
The attorney general declared that her investigation of more than 100,000 records, including the records of 12 interviews with others close to the matter, had failed to uncover evidence of bribery.
Some felt the investigation fell improperly short in its scope. Mayes had been asking Hobbs to sit for questioning for months, but never secured that interview. The language of the report also indicated that modes of communication outside of official state channels weren’t investigated.
Arizona Republican Party Chair Sergio Arellano toldThe Center Square that Hobbs had lied about sitting for an interview, and that Mayes had shielded Hobbs from taking accountability on her lack of transparency.
“For months, Hobbs looked Arizonans in the eye and claimed she was ‘in touch’ with the [attorney general’s] office. That was a straight-up lie. She explicitly refused to sit for an interview,” said Arellano. “This is the Arizona Democratic Socialist playbook, plain as day: Delay, deny, delete the evidence, and declare ‘no quid pro quo’ when the political calendar gets tight.”
Petersen similarly accused Mayes of protecting Hobbs.
“Kris Mayes made a calculated decision to protect her political ally, Katie Hobbs, in the now-infamous pay-to-play scandal,” said Petersen. “After dragging the investigation out for two years, Mayes buried her announcement on a Friday afternoon, knowing the weekend would temper questions about the integrity of her investigation. Arizonans deserve transparency and truth about what happened with the Hobbs’ [sic] Administration and Sunshine Residential.”
I'm calling on Kris Mayes to release all transcripts for any interviews and depositions from the pay-to-play scandal. She needs to be transparent and share the evidence with the public. Her cliff notes report is missing important information that everyone deserves to hear… pic.twitter.com/wXvCoRB8sx
Arizona has not yet opted into a new tax credit to provide school choice funds for families, and the Trump administration is urging Gov. Katie Hobbs to join.
Linda McMahon, education secretary for the Department of Education (ED), chastised the governor during a touring event and press conference at the East Valley Institute of Technology on Tuesday.
Rep. Andy Biggs (AZ-05) — the Republican nominee for governor — and House Speaker Steve Montenegro (R-LD29) were present with McMahon.
The federal Education Freedom Tax Credit, signed into law through the One Big Beautiful Bill last year, enables individuals to receive a dollar-for-dollar federal tax credit up to $1,700 for contributing to approved K-12 scholarship-granting organizations.
ED defines qualifying scholarship granting organizations as those nonprofits that use contribution funds to provide scholarships for education-related services at both private and public schools. These nonprofits must use at least 90% of income on scholarships for educational choice options for K-12 students.
At the Tuesday event, McMahon accused Hobbs of denying Arizona students and their parents the access to “real” educational freedom.
“Governor Hobbs has vetoed three measures that would have allowed Arizona to participate in the Federal Education Freedom Tax Credit, holding Arizona families back from accessing these powerful opportunities expanding across the country,” said McMahon. “This is what real empowerment looks like, giving parents the freedom to choose the path that best serves their child, instead of forcing every student into a rigid, one-size-fits-all system.”
Hobbs must opt in and submit a certified list of scholarship granting organizations by Jan. 1, 2027, for Arizona to participate in the inaugural year of the program.
Even if Hobbs does not opt Arizona into the program, Arizona residents may still claim the tax credit. Instead of their credit going to Arizona students, however, those contributions will go to eligible students elsewhere in participating states.
Hobbs explained in her veto of SB 1142 that she wouldn’t opt Arizona into the program until the Trump administration issues regulatory guidance for it. She compared the tax credit program to the Empowerment Scholarship Account (ESA) program, the state’s universal school choice program.
A bipartisan coalition of 30 states have opted into the federal education tax credit program so far: Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia, and Wyoming.
New York announced in May it would opt into the program but has not finalized that opt-in.
Four states have declined to join: Hawaii, Minnesota, New Mexico, and Oregon. Similar to Hobbs, the governor of Wisconsin vetoed legislation to opt into the program.
13 states and Washington, D.C. have yet to announce a decision: California, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington.
Rep. Biggs, who is looking to unseat Hobbs this November, published a press release criticizing Hobbs’ refusal to allow Arizona to join the program.
“Because of her failure, Arizona students will miss out on scholarship dollars that could help pay for tuition, tutoring, technology, special education services, and other educational needs,” said Biggs. “Arizonans should not have to watch their tax dollars create educational opportunities for students in other states simply because their governor refuses to participate.”
McMahon also addressed a Scottsdale audience in a “Great American Comeback Tour” event hosted by the America First Policy Institute. The Republican nominee for Congressional District 1, Jay Feely, also participated in the panel.
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A Tempe school employee was arrested last weekend for alleged voyeurism involving security footage of minors for sexual gratification.
Antony Nikai Cruz, 28, is accused of downloading surveillance footage of girls ages 13 to 15 years old changing in a makeshift locker room amid renovations at Corona del Sol High School.
Cruz is facing one felony count of voyeurism for sexual gratification; his bond was set at $100,000.
Cruz was not a teacher, according to Tempe Union High School District (TUHSD) officials. While the district didn’t disclose what Cruz’s employment entailed in interviews with the media, TUHSD governing board records reflect that Cruz’s latest employment title was a surveillance officer for the district office, and that he has been with the district since at least the 2022-2023 school year.
Other board records reflect that Cruz provided more than security services for the district.
Records reflect that Cruz coached freshman wrestling at Marcos de Niza High School in 2024.
Records also reflect that Cruz worked as a safety and security officer at various times at Marcos de Niza High School, Mountain Pointe High School, Corona del Sol High School, and Desert Vista High School.
Governing board records further reflect the following for Cruz’s employment history with TUHSD:
July 1, 2024: worked extra duty at Corona del Sol High School
July 26, 2024: worked extra duty to provide security for an event at Corona del Sol High School
September 9, 2024: worked extra duty to provide security for an event at Desert Vista High School
November 4, 2024: worked extra duty to coach freshman wrestling at Marcos de Niza High School
May 1, 2025: worked extra duty at Marcos de Niza High School
May 21, 2025: worked extra duty at Desert Vista High School
June 24, 2026: employment changed from 1.0 safety and security officer at Marcos de Niza High School to 1.0 surveillance officer at the district office, effective July 1, 2026
July 1, 2026: worked extra duty as a safety and security officer at Mountain Pointe High School
The district placed Cruz on administrative leave the day prior to his arrest. He has since been terminated.
According to court records, Cruz was discovered to have downloaded the makeshift locker room footage during a security supervisor audit of security system activity late last week. Court records claim Cruz downloaded the footage in July.
That audit reportedly revealed that the camera download history indicated security footage had been exported to external drives, and the security system’s cloud storage history indicated access by an IP address believed to belong to Cruz’s household.
That TUHSD security supervisor contacted the Tempe Police Department about his findings. Police arrested Cruz at his home in south Phoenix on Saturday.
TUHSD issued a statement assuring the public that they believe the security footage was isolated to one camera on campus. TUHSD has also clarified that the existence of security cameras in the makeshift locker room was not standard, stating that the district doesn’t have cameras in classrooms, regular locker rooms, or other designated changing areas.
The investigation into Cruz is ongoing.
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One Republican is competing against two Democrats for two seats in the highly competitive Arizona House of Representatives race in Legislative District 9.
Bradley (Brad) Bettencourt is facing off against Democratic incumbent Lorena Austin and Democratic newcomer Jacob Martinez. Bettencourt fell right in the middle of the pack for voter turnout in the primary election. Austin received about 11,200 votes, Martinez received about 9,300 votes, and Bettencourt received about 10,400 votes.
Bettencourt believes his banking career and budgeting prowess — which he says are evidenced by his role in fixing over $1.5 million in budget errors at his Dobson Ranch community — can bring the Arizona budget off life support and onto the path of recovery.
“I’m running because the numbers have to add up: for our state budget and for the families who live here,” said Bettencourt in a recent news release. “I stepped up when my own community of 5,000 homes discovered more than a million and a half dollars in budget errors and helped get the finances back on track. Arizona families are dealing with rising prices while paychecks struggle to keep up. They deserve a representative who will bring practical solutions, not games or extremes.”
Along with the budget, Bettencourt has his eye on strengthening approaches to the biggest issues facing the state today: water security, housing affordability, educational outcomes and choice, legal immigration, and border security.
Bettencourt generally advises more aggressive government action on Colorado River negotiations, cuts to bureaucratic red tape that impact housing, border security, legal immigration pathways, first responder funding, increased penalties on certain crimes like fentanyl distribution, regular infrastructure improvements, and tax cuts to incentivize family growth.
As for the other priorities, Bettencourt proposed government actions that support the individual freedom to act, like protecting educational choice and increasing educational outcomes through competitive teacher pay and expansions of career preparation pathways for students, and opposing new restrictions or burdens on lawful gun ownership.
Bettencourt is an Arizona native that resided in other states and traveled through Latin America before returning to the Valley. He received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Arizona State University, and has previously resided in southern Arizona, where he worked for a bank in Yuma and Nogales.
So far, Bettencourt has been outraised by his Democratic opponents.
His campaign has raised more than $64,000, out of which $29,000 has come from himself.
The other top single donors to his campaign are the Freedom Club PAC, which gave $2,500; Michelle Masters, who gave $2,000; Gary Golka, who gave $1,000; the NFIB Arizona PAC, which gave $1,000; Veronica Law, who gave $1,000; and Don Tapia, who gave $1,000.
Austin has raised more than $104,000. Her top 10 donors are:
AFSCME People, $11,000
Elizabeth Simons, $5,500
Western States Regional Council of Carpenters Legislative Improvement Committee, $5,500
The Next 50 PAC, $5,500
Ross Boucher, $5,400
Jane Fonda Climate PAC, $5,000
Peter Francis, $3,000
Climate Cabinet PAC, $2,500
Int’l Ass’n of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail, and Transportation Workers Local 359 PAC, or SMART PAC, $2,500
Arizona Education Association Fund for Public Education, formerly AZ PAC, $2,000
Martinez has also raised a similar amount at more than $100,000. His top 10 donors are very similar to Austin’s top 10:
AFSCME People, $11,000
Western States Regional Council of Carpenters Legislative Improvement Committee, $5,500
Joseph Rich, $5,500
The Next 50 PAC, $5,500
Jane Fonda Climate PAC, $5,000
Ross Boucher, $3,500
Int’l Ass’n of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail, and Transportation Workers Local 359 PAC, or SMART PAC, $2,500
Climate Cabinet PAC, $2,500
Ironworkers Local 75 PAC, $2,000
United Food & Commercial Workers Local 99 PAC, $2,000
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