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Home – Texas Politics & News – Court Was Right to End Texas Dream Act, Block In-State Tuition for Illegal Aliens, Policy Experts Say

Court Was Right to End Texas Dream Act, Block In-State Tuition for Illegal Aliens, Policy Experts Say

Last week, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit ruled that federal law prevents Texas from granting in-state college tuition to illegal aliens living in the state.

In 2001, the Texas Legislature passed the Texas Dream Act, allowing illegal aliens who graduated from a Texas high school, lived in the United States for more than three years, and signed an affidavit stating they would seek permanent residence to qualify for in-state tuition at Texas public universities.

Twenty-four years later, the U.S. Department of Justice sued Texas over the law. The state agreed that the act conflicted with federal immigration law, and a federal judge permanently blocked the statute from being enforced. 

Shortly after the act was blocked, Students for Affordable Tuition, La Unión del Pueblo Entero, Austin Community College, and Oscar Silva sought to intervene to defend the statute, arguing they should be allowed to defend the longstanding law after state officials declined to do so.

The appeals court held that two provisions in the Texas Education Code allowing certain illegal aliens to establish Texas residency violated 8 U.S.C. § 1623(a), a federal law enacted by Congress in 1996 that prohibits illegal aliens from receiving postsecondary education benefits based on state residency.

Writing for the majority, Judge Jerry E. Smith, with Judge Don Willett joining, said Section 1623 “does not limit its preemptive effect to state-law residency determinations based on a single........

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