Texas Dreamers Won’t Be Silenced

IDRA and TxILC File Amicus Brief on Behalf of Business, Faith, Educator and Student Groups Urging the Fifth Circuit to Protect the Texas Dream Act

(San Antonio • October 8, 2025) IDRA, alongside the Texas Immigration Law Council and a broad coalition of business, faith, educator and student groups, filed an amicus brief with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in U.S. v. Texas to do what Texas state leaders refused to do: defend the Texas Dream Act and the ability of Texas high school graduates to access and succeed in college, regardless of immigration status.

In 2001, Governor Rick Perry signed the Texas Dream Act, allowing certain undocumented Texans who graduated from Texas high schools and met other requirements to become eligible for in-state college tuition rates.

“For nearly a quarter century, the Texas Dream Act has provided a pathway to college for countless Texas Dreamers, who are now the nurses, teachers and entrepreneurs that make our workforce stronger and communities more vibrant,” said IDRA President and CEO Celina Moreno, J.D. “That’s why the Texas legislature has listened to Texas business, faith, education and student leaders and repeatedly rejected fringe attempts to repeal one of our state’s most successful education laws.”

On June 4, a federal judge ruled the Texas Dream Act unconstitutional, halting eligibility for in-state tuition rates for undocumented students, just as many began their summer semesters. The decision came only hours after the U.S. Department of Justice sued Texas to end the law.

Rather than defend Texas’s longstanding, bipartisan law, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton instead joined the DOJ in asking the court to invalidate the Texas Dream Act. The court order stemmed from a collusive attempt by DOJ and the Texas Attorney General to bypass the state’s legislative authority and democratic process, setting a troubling precedent for how laws are made and undone in this country.

“This deeply popular state law ended abruptly without a hearing, public input or an opportunity for Texas Dreamers to have their day in court,” said IDRA Chief Legal Analyst Paige Duggins-Clay, J.D. “IDRA is proud to file this amicus brief in support of the Intervenors and give voice to a broad coalition of stakeholders who rely on the Texas Dream Act and have had their livelihoods derailed by this government collusion.”

The consequences of the litigation are real and urgent. Texas Dreamers have already seen their tuition bills skyrocket because out-of-state tuition rates are exponentially higher than in-state tuition rates.

Many students with lawful presence have been unjustly denied eligibility for in-state tuition rates, such as those with Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA). Others have been forced to delay their college plans, take out private loans to cover unexpected tuition increases, or drop out of school altogether.

As Julieta Garibay, a Texas Dream Act beneficiary, co-founder of United We Dream, the nation’s largest immigrant youth-led network and IDRA consultant, recently reminded us: “Texas made a wise investment over two decades ago when it passed [the Texas Dream Act]. That investment has paid off in the form of stronger communities, a better-educated workforce, and a richer civic life. Dismantling that progress would not only harm immigrants – it would harm Texas.”