Fifth Circuit Judges Just Dealt Texas Illegal Aliens Some Bad Tuition News After Only One Ruled For Discount

For twenty five years, Texas charged American citizens more for college than it charged illegal aliens.

Last week, a panel of federal appeals judges finally decided whether that would keep happening.

A judge appointed by Joe Biden fought to keep that discount alive and lost.

A Reagan Judge And A Trump Judge Just Overruled Texas' Only Democrat Appointee

The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals handed down its ruling on July 9, and the panel split exactly how you'd expect.

Judge Jerry Smith, appointed by Ronald Reagan, wrote the majority opinion.

Judge Don Willett, appointed by President Trump, signed on.

Judge Irma Ramirez, appointed by Joe Biden, dissented alone.

The court held that federal law preempts any state law giving illegal aliens college benefits unless U.S. citizens qualify for the same deal regardless of where they live.

That single sentence just ended a 25 year run for the Texas Dream Act, the 2001 law that let illegal aliens establish residency and pay in state tuition while an American citizen from Oklahoma or Louisiana paid full price.

Governor Greg Abbott called the outcome "another major victory for the rule of law."

Assistant Attorney General Brett Shumate said the ruling confirms federal law stops states from handing illegal aliens tuition breaks American citizens can't get.

Attorney General Pam Bondi's Justice Department framed the old policy as "treating Americans like second-class citizens in their own country."

Illegal alien students in Texas now get reclassified as out of state, and their tuition bill just went up to several times what they paid before.

The underlying statute is 8 U.S.C. 1623(a), a law Bill Clinton signed in 1996 that Washington simply let states ignore for a generation.

Texas didn't even fight the DOJ on the merits, it agreed to shut the program down back in June of 2025.

Outside groups tried to keep the dead law alive anyway, and the Fifth Circuit told them they had no standing to defend a scheme even Texas admitted was illegal.

Texas gave up the fight before it started, but not every governor is going to be that smart about it.

Texas Is Not The Only State Losing This Fight

Texas was the first state the Trump Justice Department sued over this exact scheme, but it was never going to be the last.

Kentucky and Oklahoma lost the same fight next, watching courts strike down their own versions of the tuition break.

Nebraska's governor agreed to end the identical discount within hours of getting sued, and a federal judge made it official in June, ruling the state's law "blatantly violate[s]" the same federal statute.

Then there's California, where Gavin Newsom decided to play tough guy instead.

When the DOJ sued him over the same tuition setup in November, Newsom's office fired back with "Good luck, Trump. We'll see you in court."

Eight months and four straight DOJ wins later, that quote is aging like milk in July.

Illinois and Virginia are still fighting the same battle, but after that kind of losing streak, the smart money says they're just delaying the inevitable.

According to The College Fix, roughly 22 states still hand illegal aliens this kind of discount, which means this fight is only getting started.

Democrats Built A National Incentive Program For Breaking The Law

Here's what fires me up about this one.

For two decades, Democrat controlled legislatures built a coast to coast benefits program that rewarded people for crossing the border illegally while their own citizens from the next state over got billed full price.

That's not compassion, that's a recruitment poster.

Newsom's team can call these lawsuits political all they want, but four courts in four different states have now read the same 1996 statute and reached the same conclusion.

Signed by Bill Clinton, not some MAGA judge in a red robe.

Newsom is betting his 2028 ambitions on being the guy who fought Trump the loudest, and this is exactly the case that could make him look foolish instead of brave.

Texas just proved that ignoring federal law has an expiration date, and Sacramento is next in line to find out.

Sources:

• Dmitri Bolt, "The Fifth Circuit Court Just Delivered a Major Ruling On In-State Tuition For Illegal Aliens in Texas," Townhall, July 10, 2026.
• Ashley Oliver, "Court Holds Federal Law Bars States From Giving Illegal Aliens In-State Tuition," The Daily Caller, July 9, 2026.
• Ashley Oliver, "DOJ sues Newsom over California giving illegal immigrants college tuition benefits," Fox News, November 20, 2025.
• Jane Coleman, "Fifth Circuit Upholds End of In-State Tuition for Illegal Aliens in Texas," Legal Insurrection, July 10, 2026.
• "Federal Appeals Court Strikes Down Texas In-State Tuition for Illegal Aliens," American Greatness, July 10, 2026.
• "5th Circuit Upholds Ruling Against Texas Dream Act Tuition," The Daily Signal, July 14, 2026.