TX House Olcott: Banning In-state tuition for illegal Aliens, Feds had to step in.
- WPC Staff
- Jun 10
- 2 min read
Summary: Report from Mike Olcott, House Rep. for Texas House District 60, which includes Willow Park. "One of the first bills I filed was to ban in-state tuition for illegal aliens at Texas universities. Unfortunately, the chair of the State Affairs Committee refused to give it a hearing. Fortunately, Trump's Department of Justice sued Texas, and [a Texas Federal judge] entered a final judgement declaring the law was unconstitutional and issued a permanent injunction against its application."
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Property Tax Relief In The Texas House
My Fellow Texans,
One of my objectives this session was to introduce and pass bills that would cut off the magnet for illegal aliens to reside in Texas. One of the first bills that I filed was HB 1324 which would ban in-state tuition for illegal aliens at Texas universities. Unfortunately, the chairman of the State Affairs Committee refused to give it a hearing so it ended up dying in the Committee thus denying the opportunity for the full Texas House to vote on it.
Fortunately, the US Department of Justice under the Trump Administration sued Texas two days ago claiming that the Texas law (HB 1403) that passed the Texas legislature back in 2001 is unconstitutional. They argued that awarding illegal aliens resident tuition rates violates 8 U.S. Code §1623(a). Section 505 of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 prohibits states from providing higher education benefits based on residency to illegal immigrants unless the same benefits are offered to all U.S. citizens.
Within hours of the DOJ filing suit, Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a joint motion with the US DOJ in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas asking the court to rule that the current Texas law favoring illegal aliens was unconstitutional. The judge agreed and entered a final judgement declaring that the law was unconstitutional and issued a permanent injunction against its application.
Click here to read the press release from AG Ken Paxton.
According to data from the Higher Ed Immigration portal and the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, there are more than 56,000 illegal aliens attending institutions of higher learning in Texas that costs Texas taxpayers more than $150 million per year.
Now that the session is over, I will be spending most of my time back home in the district. I had the pleasure of being interviewed by Jack Fink from CBS News via zoom from our district office in Weatherford (212 Santa Fe Dr) yesterday afternoon regarding the in-state tuition ruling. A portion of the interview will be shown on his morning program “Eye on Politics” this Sunday.
For Texas and our Nation,
Mike Olcott
PS. You can reach our office via phone number (512) 463-0656.
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