Federal judge blocks Texas law allowing in-state tuition for students without legal residency

AUSTIN, Texas — A federal judge on Wednesday blocked a Texas law that for decades has given college students without legal residency access to reduced in-state tuition, swiftly ruling in favor of the latest effort by the Trump administration to crack down on immigration.

The order came just hours after the Justice Department sued to block the tuition policy, which was the first of its kind in the U.S. when it began in Texas in 2001. Instead of fighting a lawsuit brought against Texas, state Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton quickly told the court that his office supported it, paving the way for U.S. District Judge Reed O'Connor to issue the injunction.

The result was a court abruptly blocking a Texas a law that some conservatives have sought to repeal for years.

The judge's ruling said that the Texas law as applied to someone ''not lawfully present in the United States ... (is) unconstitutional and invalid.''

The order only applies to Texas, but it could prompt conservatives to challenge similar laws in two dozen states.

''Ending this discriminatory and un-American provision is a major victory for Texas,'' Paxton said.

The Texas law was intended to help ''Dreamers,'' or young adults without legal status, to be eligible for in-state tuition if they meet certain residency criteria.

Half the country now has similar laws, but the Trump administration filed the lawsuit in conservative Texas, where Paxton, Republican Gov. Greg Abbott and state lawmakers have long sought to support the president's hard-line goals on the border.

The lawsuit and ruling also come just two days after the end of the state legislative session, during which a repeal bill pushed by group of Republicans was considered but ultimately did not come up for a vote.

The lawsuit leaned heavily into recent executive orders signed by Trump designed to stop any state or local laws or regulations the administration feels discriminate against legal residents.

''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. ''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.''

Texas has about 57,000 undocumented students enrolled in its public universities and colleges, according to the Presidents' Alliance on Higher Education and Immigration, a nonpartisan nonprofit group of university leaders focused on immigration policy. The state has about 690,000 students overall at its public universities.

"In-state tuition for illegal immigrants in Texas has ended,'' Abbott posted in a short statement on X.

The lawsuit was filed in the Wichita Falls division of the Northern District of Texas, where Paxton and conservative litigants have often challenged the federal government and issues such as health care and gay and transgender rights.

The Texas tuition policy was initially passed by sweeping majorities in the state Legislature and signed into law by then-Gov. Rick Perry, a Republican, as a way to open access to higher education for students without legal residency already living in the state. Supporters then and now say it boosts the state's economy by creating a better educated and better prepared workforce.

''Targeted attacks on Texas students who are seeking an affordable college education, led by the Trump administration, won't help anyone, they only hurt us all,'' said Luis Figueroa of Every Texan, a left-leaning public policy group.

The difference in tuition rates is substantial. For example, at the flagship University of Texas at Austin, a state resident paid about $11,000 for the 2024-2025 academic year compared with about $41,000 for students from outside of Texas. Other expenses for housing, supplies and transportation can add nearly $20,000 more, according to school estimates.

The law allowed for students without legal resident status to qualify for in-state tuition if they have lived in the state for three years before graduating from high school, and for a year before enrolling in college. They must also sign an affidavit promising to apply for legal resident status as soon as possible.

But the policy soon came under fire as debates over illegal immigration intensified, and critics called it unfair to legal residents. In the 2012 Republican presidential primary, Perry ended up apologizing after saying critics of the law ''did not have a heart.''

Legislative efforts to repeal the Texas law have repeatedly failed, but have started to gain traction elsewhere. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican, signed a bill this year that will repeal that state's in-state tuition law in July.

''Ending Texas's in-state tuition policy is a direct attack on the educational aspirations of thousands of students who have grown up in our communities and call Texas home,'' said Judith Cruz, Assistant Director for the Houston Region for EdTrust in Texas, which advocates for education access for minority and low-income students.