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After a court order ended Texas’ in-state college tuition program for undocumented students last month, advocates are warning that the Trump administration may mount legal battles in other states with similar programs.
Since its win in Texas, the Trump administration has pursued legal challenges to programs in Kentucky and Minnesota. However, no legal challenge or Department of Justice inquiry has been made so far in Colorado, according to Attorney General Phil Weiser’s office.
The Trump executive order says that allowing in-state students who aren’t citizens to pay less college tuition than out-of-state students who are citizens is discriminatory.
Colorado public officials said the state’s program is on firm legal ground, with Weiser’s office saying he’s committed to defending Colorado’s 2013 in-state tuition law, which allows undocumented students to pay in-state tuition rates.
The Colorado state law is not a residency requirement, but instead says students must have attended a Colorado high school or been physically present in the state for at least one year, a Weiser spokesperson said in a Tuesday email statement.
“(It) does not favor undocumented residents over out-of-state American citizens,” the spokesperson said. “Colorado law, therefore, does not violate federal law.”
Colorado is one of 23 states and Washington, D.C. that still have a program in place. Colorado officials have said they do not share how many students have qualified for in-state tuition due to privacy concerns.
Texas, one of the first to create such a program and the first the Trump administration sued, ended its program just six hours into the lawsuit after state officials including Attorney General Ken Paxton agreed it was discriminatory.
Krystal Gómez, who is the managing attorney with the Texas Immigration Law Council, said during a Tuesday news conference that groups like hers are seeking to slow the unraveling of the Texas program and set a precedent on how to fight this type of legal challenge.
“The question before us isn’t just about tuition rates,” Gómez said. “It’s about whether we’re going to allow fear and confusion to replace clear law and basic fairness.”
These lawsuits stem from an April 28 presidential executive order that called to punish states with so-called sanctuary policies as well as pursue legal action against states with programs for undocumented students.
In a Tuesday statement, a Gov. Jared Polis spokesperson said states have the right to determine in-state tuition laws. The spokesperson said the governor is committed to expanding access to higher education.
“Dismantling or micro-managing in-state tuition across the country is absurd and will only close off opportunity and make pursuing higher education more difficult and expensive,” the spokesperson said in the statement.
In Colorado, colleges, universities, and state officials evaluated the impact of the order before the Colorado Department of Higher Education sent a letter in May saying they believe the state’s program is rooted in state and federal law.
“Under federal law, states have the authority to offer certain types of assistance to individuals regardless of immigration status,” the letter reads. “We want to make clear that while federal executive orders shape federal enforcement priorities, they do not create new laws, nor do they override existing federal statutes.”
About 408,000 undocumented students enroll in higher education each year, including about 6,800 in Colorado, according to the Higher Ed Immigration Portal.
Undocumented students in states without these laws must pay full out-of-state tuition or attend schools with programs that provide in-state tuition opportunities. That drives up the cost of tuition to levels many students could never afford, especially because they are not eligible for federal financial aid, advocates said.
In Texas, local and national advocacy groups, such as the ACLU of Texas, the Texas Civil Rights Project, Democracy Forward, and The National Immigration Law Center, have filed a motion to intervene in the lawsuit that ended the program.
ACLU of Texas legal assistant Valerie Alvarado highlighted that Texas lawmakers have failed to repeal the program for years, and the Trump administration’s actions go against the will of the people.
“What happened here clearly exploits the litigation process and disrespects the legislative system we have here in Texas,” she said.
Advocates argue that these programs help students who have been in the United States since they were young get jobs and participate in the economy. Without these programs, there will be fewer opportunities for them to get good paying jobs, they said.
In Texas, the nearly 20,000 students who have benefited from the Texas DREAM Act earn more than $430 million annually thanks to the education the state afforded them, said Juan Martinez Guevara, Texas advocacy manager for United We Dream, an immigrant-led youth advocacy organization. That’s money that adds to the state’s tax base and helps the state and local economy, he said.
Jason Gonzales is a reporter covering higher education and the Colorado legislature. Chalkbeat Colorado partners with Open Campus on higher education coverage. Contact Jason at jgonzales@chalkbeat.org.
