Kris Kobach on In-State Tuition for Illegal Immigrants and Noncitizen Voting

Mark Krikorian; Kris W. Kobach

By Mark Krikorian and Kris W. Kobach on October 22, 2026

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Summary

The Trump administration’s Department of Justice is challenging state laws that provide in-state college tuition rates to illegal aliens, arguing that they violate federal law.

Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach joins host Mark Krikorian, the Executive Director of the Center for Immigration Studies, in this episode of Parsing Immigration Policy to discuss a recent federal court ruling against Kansas’s tuition law, the related legal battles unfolding in other states, and also efforts to identify and prosecute noncitizens who register and vote in U.S. elections.

In relation to repealing in-state tuition for illegal aliens, Kobach stated, “Philosophically and just as a principle of common sense, a country should treat its own citizens better than it treats both legal and illegal aliens, frankly, in terms of benefits.”

Among the topics discussed:

The legal challenge to in-state tuition: Kobach explains how a 1996 federal statute restricts states from offering resident tuition rates to illegal aliens unless those rates are also available to all U.S. citizens, regardless of their state of residence.
The cost and consequences of tuition benefits: Kobach argues that in-state tuition benefits give illegal aliens a financial advantage over out-of-state American students and can create incentives for illegal immigration.
Identifying noncitizens on voter rolls: Kobach discusses Kansas’s use of federal databases to identify noncitizens registered to vote, along with investigations and prosecutions involving violations of election law.