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Texas AFL-CIO Joins Amicus Brief Defending Texas Dream Act, Supporting Students’ Right to In-State Tuition

Texas AFL-CIO
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TEXAS – This week, the Texas AFL-CIO joined the Presidents’ Alliance on Higher Education and Immigration, and 36 other public and private colleges and universities and organizations from across the country, to file a powerful amicus brief in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in support of motions filed by the Austin Community College District Board of Trustees and the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund \(MALDEF\) defending Texas’s tuition equity law. Tuition equity policies allow eligible students, regardless of immigration status, to pay in-state tuition rates and access state financial aid. 

“Texas students’ success, regardless of how they became Texans themselves, is deeply connected to the success of our communities, our economy, and our country,” said Texas AFL-CIO President Rick Levy. “We’re all just trying to get by, and making sure more Texans get the education they deserve helps all of us. By joining this amicus brief, the Texas AFL-CIO and our 250,000 members — many of whom are DACA recipients or have family members who are DACA recipients — affirm our commitment to fairness and opportunity for every Texas student and family.” 

In Texas alone, Dream Act students have contributed \$81\.6 million in tuition and fees annually to public institutions. The state stands to lose $461 million in annual economic activity and $33 billion in taxable wage earnings if the law remains enjoined. Texas DACA recipients alone contribute \$3\.7 billion in spending power, with thousands serving as teachers and healthcare professionals.

Case Background: 

On June 4, 2025, the U.S. Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against the State of Texas seeking to invalidate the Texas Dream Act, a state law enacted in 2001 that provides in-state tuition rates at Texas public colleges and universities to eligible high school graduates, regardless of immigration status. The lawsuit argued that the Texas Dream Act conflicts with provisions of the 1996 Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act.

Rather than contest the case, the State of Texas and the federal government entered into a consent judgment, jointly asking the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas to declare the law invalid. Later that same day, the court issued an order enjoining the Texas Dream Act, finding it unconstitutional under the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution, without holding a hearing.

Following the decision, several parties directly affected by the ruling, including La Unión del Pueblo Entero, Austin Community College, Oscar Silva, and Students for Affordable Tuition, filed motions to intervene in the case. The district court denied those motions, and the proposed intervenors subsequently appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, where the case is currently pending.

Supporting organizations: 

  • Aliento 

  • American Association of Colleges and Universities 

  • Antioch College 

  • Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities 

  • California State Polytechnic University, Pomona 

  • California State University, Channel Islands 

  • California State University, Fresno 

  • California State University, Long Beach 

  • California State University, San Marcos 

  • California State University, Stanislaus

  • College of Marin 

  • College Track 

  • Communications Workers of America, AFL-CIO 

  • Communities for Our Colleges 

  • Dickinson College 

  • Dominican University 

  • Donnelly College 

  • Eastern Connecticut State University 

  • Illinois Dream Fund 

  • Illinois Institute of Technology 

  • Immigrants Rising 

  • Institutional Solutions 

  • Metropolitan State University of Denver 

  • Middle States Commission on Higher Education 

  • Montgomery College 

  • National Association for College Admission Counseling 

  • Pre-Health Dreamers 

  • The President and Fellows of Middlebury College 

  • Roosevelt University 

  • San Diego State University 

  • San Francisco State University 

  • Texas AFL-CIO 

  • TheDream.US 

  • Trinity Washington University 

  • U.S. Africa Institute 

  • UnidosUS 

  • Western Connecticut State University

Resources:

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The Texas AFL-CIO is the state labor federation consisting of more than 250,000 affiliated union members and advocates for working people in Texas. Learn more at texasaflcio.org