The U.S. Department of Justice filed a lawsuit Wednesday seeking to block Texas from continuing its decades-old policy of offering in-state college tuition to undocumented immigrants. Hours later, Texas officials signaled they would comply with federal law and halt the practice, according to The Texas Tribune.
The complaint, filed in the Northern District of Texas, targets the state’s 2001 law — widely known as the Texas Dream Act — which has allowed undocumented immigrants residing in Texas to pay in-state tuition rates at public colleges and universities. The DOJ argues that the policy directly conflicts with federal immigration law and violates the U.S. Constitution’s Supremacy Clause.
“Under federal law, schools cannot provide benefits to illegal aliens that they do not provide to U.S. citizens,” said U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi. “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.”
The DOJ is asking the court to block enforcement of the Texas statute, which has been in place for over two decades and was signed into law by then-Gov. Rick Perry in 2001. The law was designed to expand college access for undocumented students who had attended and graduated from Texas high schools and met certain residency and academic requirements.
The legal challenge follows two executive orders signed by President Donald Trump earlier this year aimed at tightening immigration enforcement and eliminating taxpayer-funded benefits for undocumented individuals. One of the orders, titled “Ending Taxpayer Subsidization of Open Borders,” directs all federal agencies to ensure that public funds are not used to support “unqualified aliens.” Another order, “Protecting American Communities From Criminal Aliens,” specifically targets state laws that offer in-state tuition to undocumented students while denying it to out-of-state U.S. citizens.
Attorney General Bondi also issued a stark warning to other states, including Illinois and New York, urging their governors to review and revise any policies that might run afoul of federal law.
The federal government’s position marks a significant shift in the longstanding debate over access to higher education for undocumented immigrants. Proponents of the Texas law have long argued that students who grew up in the state and graduated from Texas high schools should not be penalized for their immigration status. Opponents argue that offering in-state tuition to undocumented immigrants is unfair to U.S. citizens from other states and violates federal statutes.
With input from Fox News.
