Donald Trump is steamrolling the opposition. And there’s nothing they can do about it.
Now a judge smacked down an insane law in a major victory for Trump.
Federal Judge Strikes Down Texas In-State Tuition Law for Illegal Immigrants
In a decisive victory for President Donald Trump’s immigration agenda, a federal judge on Wednesday permanently blocked Texas from enforcing a 2001 state law that allowed illegal immigrants to pay in-state tuition rates at public universities.
The ruling, issued by U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor in the Northern District of Texas, aligns with the Trump administration’s push to prioritize federal immigration law and ensure equal treatment for U.S. citizens. The decision marks a significant step in dismantling policies that critics argue incentivize illegal immigration at the expense of American taxpayers.
Court Ruling Upholds Federal Supremacy
Judge O’Connor, appointed by former President George W. Bush, declared the Texas law unconstitutional, stating, “[T]he Court hereby declares that the challenged provisions … as applied to aliens who are not lawfully present in the United States, violate the Supremacy Clause and are unconstitutional and invalid.”
He further ruled, “The Court also hereby permanently enjoins Defendant as well as its successors, agents, and employees, from enforcing Texas Education Code § 54.051(m) and § 54.052(a), as applied to aliens who are not lawfully present in the United States.”
The ruling came after Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a motion agreeing with the Justice Department’s argument that the statute “expressly and directly conflicts” with federal immigration law, which prohibits providing benefits to illegal immigrants that are unavailable to out-of-state U.S. citizens.
Trump Administration’s Push for Fairness
The Trump administration’s lawsuit, filed shortly before Paxton’s motion, emphasized that “federal law prohibits illegal aliens from getting in-state tuition benefits that are denied to out-of-state U.S. citizens,” adding, “There are no exceptions. Yet the State of Texas has ignored this law for years. This Court should put that to an end.”
The challenge was spurred by Trump’s February executive order, “Ending Taxpayer Subsidization of Open Borders,” and his April directive, “Protecting American Communities From Criminal Aliens.”
Attorney General Pam Bondi, prior to the ruling, stated, “Under federal law, schools cannot provide benefits to illegal aliens that they do not provide to US citizens. 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 Governor Greg Abbott celebrated the outcome on X, declaring, “In-state tuition for illegal immigrants in Texas has ended,” while Paxton called the ruling “a major victory for Texas,” labeling the law “discriminatory and un-American.”
Background and Implications
Enacted in 2001 under then-Governor Rick Perry, the Texas law allowed illegal immigrants who resided in the state for at least three years before high school graduation and pledged to seek permanent legal status to access in-state tuition rates, significantly lower than those for out-of-state students. For example, the University of Texas at Austin charges out-of-state students $40,582 to $48,712 annually, compared to $10,858 to $13,576 for in-state students.
Texas was the first state to implement such a policy, which has since been adopted by numerous other states despite repeated Republican-led efforts to repeal it in Texas.
The Trump administration’s successful challenge signals a commitment to enforcing federal immigration laws and eliminating policies that critics argue unfairly burden American citizens while rewarding illegal immigration.
