DOJ sues Texas for offering in-state college tuition to illegal immigrants in alleged violation of federal law

Fox News

04-06-2025

The Department of Justice (DOJ) filed a complaint against Texas to block the state's two-decade-old law that provides in-state tuition to illegal immigrants.
The complaint was filed Wednesday in the Northern District of Texas against the State of Texas and several Texas officials to get Texas to comply with federal requirements.
Under federal law, higher education institutions are prohibited from providing benefits to illegal aliens not offered to U.S. citizens.
The DOJ's complaint aims to enjoin the enforcement of a Texas law requiring colleges and universities to provide in-state tuition rates for immigrants who maintain residency in Texas, regardless of whether they are in the U.S. legally.
According to the DOJ, the laws in Texas "blatantly" conflict with federal law, putting them in conflict with the supremacy clause of the U.S. Constitution.
"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."
The lawsuit was filed in response to two executive orders signed by President Donald Trump since returning to the Oval Office in January.
The executive orders were signed to ensure illegal immigrants cannot receive taxpayer benefits or preferential treatment.
One of the orders, "Ending Taxpayer Subsidization of Open Borders," ordered all agencies to "ensure, to the maximum extent permitted by law, that no taxpayer-funded benefits go to unqualified aliens."
The other order, "Protecting American Communities From Criminal Aliens," directs officials to "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."
Fox News Digital has reached out to Gov. Greg Abbott's office for comment.
Widely known as the Texas Dream Act, the legislation being targeted by the Trump administration was introduced in February 2001, when federal courts ruled that a child's immigration status should not prevent the child's access to primary and secondary schools.
But when it came to higher education, federal immigration status could have prevented some children born outside the U.S. from getting a college education from a public institution because of higher rates charged to nonresidents.
When children born outside the U.S. graduated from Texas high schools, those students were required by previous state law to pay a higher rate to Texas public colleges or universities, as if they were from out of state or were international students.
The legislation, signed by Gov. Rick Perry, a Republican, June 16, 2001, removed federal immigration status as a factor in determining eligibility to pay in-state tuition at Texas public colleges and universities for students who graduate from a Texas high school and who meet the minimum residency, academic and registration criteria.