Texas' undocumented college students no longer qualify for in-state tuition

[In It to Win It]

Undocumented students in Texas are no longer eligible for in-state tuition after Texas agreed Wednesday with the federal government's demand to stop the practice.

The abrupt end to Texas' 24-year-old law came hours after the U.S. Department of Justice announced it was suing Texas over its policy of letting undocumented students qualify for lower tuition rates at public universities. Texas quickly asked the court to side with the feds and find that the law was unconstitutional and should be blocked, which U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor did.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton claimed credit for the outcome, saying in a statement Wednesday evening that “ending this discriminatory and un-American provision is a major victory for Texas," echoing the argument made by Trump administration officials.

“Under federal law, schools cannot provide benefits to illegal aliens that they do not provide to U.S. citizens,” U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a statement Wednesday. “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 Justice Department filed its lawsuit in the Wichita Falls division of the Northern District of Texas, where O’Connor hears all cases. O’Connor, appointed by President George W. Bush, has long been a favored judge for the Texas attorney general’s office and conservative litigants.

https://www.texastribune.org/2025/06/04/texas-justice-department-lawsuit-undocumented-in-state-tuition/

[Silent Type]

1. MFers. Most of the voters that support this crud probably couldn't even get into a college.

[Initech]

2. This administration is pure fucking evil.

[tulipsandroses]

3. The cruelty is the point. Their over the top rhetoric is beyond the pale.

This foolishness about US citizens treated like 2nd class citizens. If said undocumented immigrants lived in GA they would not get TX in state tuition. This makes no damn sense to normal people. The constant whining about people being taken advantage of - meaning white folks - is nauseating.

[Deuxcents]

4. Texas doesn't want to educate their kids but I'll bet the kids' folks pay taxes without benefits..

I’ll also bet these college kids are working hard for their future but another roadblock because of where they were born or to whom they were born.

[Polybius]

5. I'm shocked that it ever was a thing at all in Texas

Because, well, Texas.

[In It to Win It]

6. I think it was part of their "compassionate conservatism" pitch at the time.

[Arazi]

7. TX Republicans campaigned on this and passed it

Cornyn campaigned on it as recently as two years ago 🙄

[LetMyPeopleVote]

8. Texas' swift surrender to DOJ on undocumented student tuition raises questions about state-federal collusion

Experts say Wednesday’s action to eliminate the long-standing policy could be a “collusive lawsuit,” where the state and feds worked the courts to get a desired outcome.

Texas’ swift surrender to DOJ on undocumented student tuition raises questions about state-federal collusion| www.texastribune.org/2025/06/09/t...

— Black Intellect (@blackintellect.bsky.social) 2025-06-09T16:58:59.051Z

Link to tweet

https://www.texastribune.org/2025/06/09/texas-doj-undocumented-tuition-courts-friendly-lawsuit-paxton

It happened fast.

On Wednesday, the U.S. Department of Justice sued Texas over its long-standing state law allowing undocumented students to get in-state tuition. The lawsuit was barely on the books before Texas surrendered without a fight, asking a judge to strike down the law — which he did.

The whole lawsuit was closed out within hours, with both the U.S. attorney general and the Texas attorney general taking credit for the ruling.

It’s unusual to see a state work so closely with the federal government to use the courts to overturn a state law the Legislature had allowed to stand, legal experts say. It’s particularly surprising in Texas, a state with a proud history of battling the federal government and staking out aggressive positions on the limited role the feds should have within its borders.....

This session, a bill to repeal the law stalled after passing out of a Senate committee. Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, the influential leader of the Senate and a longtime opponent of the law, told The Texas Tribune he didn’t bring the bill up for a vote because it didn’t have the votes to pass in the upper chamber.

When the Texas Legislature gaveled out on Monday, immigration organizers breathed a sigh of relief — believing the tuition policy was safe at least until the Legislature returns in two years.

“Less than 48 hours later, we find out Texas has been in cahoots with the federal government to undo this through a backdoor,” said Cesar Espinoza, executive director of Immigrant Families and Students in the Fight, which goes by its Spanish acronym FIEL.

This was a stunt by Paxton and Abbott to get rid of this policy after failing to do so in the Texas Legislature