A federal judge on Wednesday permanently blocked Texas from enforcing a state law allowing illegal immigrants living in the Lone Star State to pay in-state tuition rates for public universities after the Trump administration challenged the statute.
The two-decades-old law was overturned after Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a motion in the US District Court for the Northern District of Texas agreeing with the Justice Department’s contention that the statute “expressly and directly conflicts” with federal immigration law.
“[T]he Court hereby declares that the challenged provisions … as applied to aliens who are not lawfully present in the United States, violate the Supremacy Clause and are unconstitutional and invalid,” District Judge Reed O’Connor determined.
“The Court also hereby permanently enjoins Defendant as well as its successors, agents, and employees, from enforcing Texas Education Code § 54.051(m) and § 54.052(a), as applied to aliens who are not lawfully present in the United States,” O’Connor, an appointee of former President George W. Bush, ruled.
After the ruling, Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott declared on X that “In-state tuition for illegal immigrants in Texas has ended.”
“Ending this discriminatory and un-American provision is a major victory for Texas,” Paxton said in a statement.
In a lawsuit filed shortly before Paxton entered the state’s joint motion in the case, the Trump administration argued that “federal law prohibits illegal aliens from getting in-state tuition benefits that are denied to out-of-state U.S. citizens.”
“There are no exceptions. Yet the State of Texas has ignored this law for years,” the lawsuit stated. “This Court should put that to an end.” --->READ MORE HERE
Twenty-four years after being the first in the nation to roll it out, a major perk for illegal aliens in Texas has vanished after the Trump administration filed a federal lawsuit to stop it and the Lone Star State's attorney general quickly agreed with the White House stance. Specifically, illegals will no longer be charged the in-state rate for college tuition.
The end came quite suddenly. Within hours of the US Department of Justice filing a complaint in the Northern District of Texas, Republican Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a motion asking Judge Reed O'Connor to rule in favor of the DOJ and declare in-state tuition for illegals unconstitutional. On the same day, O'Connor issued an order declaring that discounts favoring illegal aliens over non-Texan American citizens -- in contradiction of federal law -- violate the Constitution's Supremacy Clause, and permanently blocking Texas from giving such discounts.
Paxton, who's mounting a 2026 challenge of incumbent Republican John Cornyn to represent Texas in the United States Senate, raced to take credit for the outcome:
“Today, I entered a joint motion along with the Trump Administration opposing a law that unconstitutionally and unlawfully gave benefits to illegal aliens that were not available to American citizens. Ending this discriminatory and un-American provision is a major victory for Texas.”
In 2001, Texas became the first state to offer in-state tuition to illegals. Back then, Democrats had a slim majority in the state House, but the "Texas Dream Act" had bipartisan support, with only four of 181 legislators voting against it. Republicans bought into the idea that better-educated illegals would bolster the state's labor force and its economy, and then-Governor Rick Perry gave full support -- a stance he had to defend at a Republican debate during his failed 2012 presidential campaign. While this clip stops short, the audience answered with a mix of vigorous applause and hearty boos: --->READ MORE HERE
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