A federal appeals court ruled that Texas cannot give in-state tuition to undocumented students.
In a decision handed down Thursday, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that a 25-year-old Texas law allowing these discounts directly conflicts with federal law. The court pointed to a federal statute that says states can’t give higher education benefits to undocumented immigrants based on where they live unless they offer those same perks to all U.S. citizens, regardless of what state they’re from.
Under the Texas rules, out-of-state American citizens were being charged much higher tuition rates than undocumented students living in Texas, which the court said is illegal.
The legal battle started last summer when the federal government sued Texas over the tuition rules. The state quickly settled the case, agreeing to a permanent ban on the discounts. After that settlement, several advocacy groups, a student, and Austin Community College tried to step in and keep the program alive.
But the appeals court rejected that effort. The judges ruled that trying to defend the Texas program was basically pointless because federal law clearly overrides it.
One judge on the panel did dissent, arguing that the court rushed into the decision and that the federal law might actually violate the Tenth Amendment by improperly telling states how to run their colleges. However, the majority ruling stands, effectively ending the in-state tuition program for undocumented students in Texas.
The ruling is already drawing strong reactions, as the decision sparked a wider conversation about similar laws in other states.
