The Department of Justice (DOJ) moved Wednesday to block the enforcement of Texas law granting in-state tuition rates to illegal immigrants.
The DOJ filed suit against the state of Texas to stop the enforcement of state law requiring colleges and universities to provide in-state tuition rates to illegal immigrants, as the Trump administration intensifies its scrutiny of jurisdictions violating federal immigration laws. The “Dream Act,” passed in 2001, allows those who are not lawfully present in the country to qualify for reduced tuition at public state colleges, which the DOJ argues is discriminatory to U.S. citizens from other states who are required to pay higher tuition rates to attend certain schools in Texas.
“That is squarely prohibited and preempted by federal law, which expressly provides that ‘an alien who is not lawfully present in the United States shall not be eligible on the basis of residence within a State . . . for any postsecondary education benefit unless a citizen or national of the United States is eligible for such a benefit … without regard to whether the citizen or national is such a resident,” the complaint reads.
Texas is home to the second-largest population of illegal immigrants, and approximately 57,000 of them were enrolled in its state universities as of 2022, according to the Presidents’ Alliance on Higher Education and Immigration.
“Under federal law, schools cannot provide benefits to illegal aliens that they do not provide to U.S. citizens,” said 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 lawsuit follows two executive orders signed by President Donald Trump designed to crack down on illegal immigration.
One order, titled “Ending Taxpayer Subsidization of Open Borders,” directs all agencies to “ensure, to the maximum extent permitted by law, that no taxpayer-funded benefits go to unqualified aliens.” The other, “Protecting American Communities From Criminal Aliens,” instructs officials to take steps against state and local laws or policies that favor illegal immigrants over American citizens.
The Trump administration is cracking down on so-called “sanctuary cities” or jurisdictions that allegedly obstruct federal immigration law. In February, the DOJ sued Chicago, Cook County, and the state of Illinois for its policies restricting cooperation between local police and federal immigration enforcement.
Neither the DOJ nor the Texas attorney general’s office responded to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
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