FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 5, 2025
CONTACT: Nicole Hill, press@texasaft.org
Statement from Texas AFT on the revocation of in-state tuition for undocumented students in Texas, following a lawsuit from the federal government:
“This is another shameful day in Greg Abbott’s Texas. The Texas DREAM Act was one of the few policies in recent memory in which our state led the nation in a positive direction – and it did so in a bipartisan fashion with Gov. Rick Perry as one of its leading champions.
Every Texas student has the right to a high-quality, affordable education, regardless of their zip code, race, socioeconomic bracket, or immigration status – all factors outside of their control.
Under the groundbreaking legislation that was struck down Wednesday, undocumented students already were required to have lived in the state for years before enrolling in college. They also had to sign affidavits stating they would apply for legal resident status as soon as possible.
By hungrily accepting the Trump Administration’s legal challenge to our state’s decades-old policy, Gov. Abbott and our chronically indicted attorney general have sold out Texas’ next generation and bullied some of our most vulnerable kids and teens. They are punching down, as they often do.
They are also voluntarily subverting the autonomy of our state, something so opposed to Texas values that it is baffling. Two bills were proposed in this Legislature to repeal the DREAM Act and remove in-state tuition for undocumented students. Both died, as so many similar bills in previous sessions have done.
The actions of state officials set a disturbing precedent that if the Legislature refuses to advance their most punishing priorities, they will cry foul and run to the federal government to be rescued.
It’s un-Texan, un-American, and frankly pathetic.”
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Texas AFT represents 66,000 teachers, paraprofessionals, support personnel, and higher-education employees across the state. Texas AFT is affiliated with the 1.8-million-member American Federation of Teachers and the AFL-CIO.