About 57,000 of a total 690,000 students enrolled in Texas’s public universities and colleges are illegal immigrants.
The Department of Justice is seeking to block a Texas law that allows college students to access reduced in-state tuition rates regardless of their immigration status.
Filed in the Wichita Falls division of the Northern District of Texas, the lawsuit asked a federal judge to block the law that has been in place for almost 25 years, citing an executive order designed to stop any state or local laws deemed discriminatory against legal U.S. residents.
“Under federal law, schools cannot provide benefits to illegal aliens that they do not provide to U.S. citizens,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said. “The Justice Department will relentlessly fight to vindicate federal law and ensure that U.S. citizens are not treated like second-class citizens anywhere in the country.”
In 2001, the Lone Star State became the first in the country to allow young adults without legal status, commonly known as “Dreamers,” to access reduced-rate in-state tuition.
Signed by Gov. Rick Perry, a Republican, the Texas law opened access to higher education for illegal immigrant students who lived in the state for at least three years before graduating from high school and for one year before enrolling in college. The law also required the students to sign an affidavit promising that they would apply for legal residency as soon as possible.
According to the Presidents’ Alliance on Higher Education and Immigration, about 57,000 of the 690,000 students currently enrolled in Texas’s public universities and colleges are illegal immigrants.
More than 20 other states have followed suit, passing similar laws.
Florida has since emerged as one of the first states to revoke illegal immigrants’ access to government-sponsored benefits at the state level. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a bill that would end the tuition access by July.
Although Texas has taken a strong stance against illegal immigration over the past few years under Gov. Greg Abbott, especially in ensuring its sections of the U.S.–Mexico border remained closed, the push to end its in-state tuition for illegal immigrants is coming down from the federal level.
It comes just a few days after a push by Republican lawmakers in Austin to repeal the law failed to come up for a vote during the legislative session.
The increase in tuition rates that would be felt by illegal immigrant students could be tens of thousands of dollars, and the lawsuit has garnered vocal opposition.
“Targeted attacks on Texas students who are seeking an affordable college education, led by the Trump administration, won’t help anyone; they only hurt us all,” Luis Figueroa of Every Texan, a left-leaning public policy group, wrote in a statement.
The Epoch Times has reached out to the governor’s office for comment.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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