Illegal aliens present in states across the country are not residents of those states or citizens of the U.S. When an illegal alien graduates from a high school and goes to college, they are “out of state” applicants and should pay out-of-state tuition at colleges and universities.
Despite federal law, however, some states — too many — allow illegal aliens who graduate from a high school in the state to pay in-state tuition.
For example, Texas lawmakers allowed certain illegal aliens who graduated from Texas high schools to pay in-state tuition under the Texas Dream Act, which became law in 2001. The U.S. Department of Justice sued in June 2025 to stop enforcement.
A federal court blocked the law. Proponents of in-state tuition for illegal aliens appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit — and lost again. A three-judge panel upheld the lower court’s decision. An excerpt (PDF):
The district court correctly denied intervention after concluding that they could not plausibly defend the preemption claim. Section 1623(a) preempts what we call the Challenged Provisions1 vis-à-vis illegal aliens, barring states from conferring postsecondary education benefits on any illegal alien based on residence unless the same benefit is available to all U.S. citizens and nationals irrespective of residency. [emphasis added]
“Texas and the Trump DOJ just secured another major victory for the rule of law,” Governor Greg Abbott wrote on X.
Photo credit: By Michael Barera, CC BY-SA 4.0, link
