A group called the Immigration Reform Coalition of Texas (IRCOT) has filed a lawsuit challenging the provisions allowing in-state tuition for certain undocumented high school graduates in Texas. From the Houston Chronicle:

In the lawsuit, the plaintiffs allege that at least 8,000 illegal immigrants attend Texas colleges and universities at discounted tuition rates for in-state residents or receive some form of state financial aid, saying the statute violates federal law. The lawsuit also requests an injunction barring illegal immigrants from receiving the in-state break on tuition or state-funded financial aid.

“We don’t think that taxpayers should break federal law in order to subsidize people who are in the United States illegally,” Rogers said.

This is similar to a lawsuit filed in California a few years ago, and it makes the argument that the law offers a subsidy to undocumented students at the expense of taxpayers. In reality, this type of legislation increases a state’s return-on-investment in education and youth development.

Like in the past, let’s examine the arguments of our opponents by asking some questions.

First question, Mr. Rogers: what do you mean by taxpayers? Did you know that immigrants in general put more into the tax system than what they take away? In my recent article for The Nation , I referenced the report from the government of your home state that said just that. Let’s say for example that DreamActivist was able to get 10 undocumented students in Texas to show you their families’ tax returns, would you withdraw the lawsuit? What about 50? 100?

Second: How can you call this a subsidy? The state’s revenue does not suffer from offering this opportunity to Texas-educated students. This is clearly not a zero-sum game. Both the state and the undocumented student population lose if the in-state tuition law is repealed. Most of the students will be forced to drop out if forced to pay the prohibitive out-of-state fees. The state will lose its investment in youth, the cycle of poverty will continue unbroken, and the underground economy will remain unintegrated.

Those two are enough for now. Looking at their website, the border-obsessed IRCOT makes shocking analogies to the North Korea-South Korea border, protesting the higher number of troops between the Koreas than at the US-Mexico border. In their view, the family-oriented sacrifices of low-income migrant workers is a bigger threat than a megalomaniac despot trying to get a hold of nuclear weapons.

This, of course, takes us back to the continuous need for undocumented students to organize. For the non-Daily USA media: undocumented student leaders of the Texas Dream Act Alliance, the University Leadership Initiative, and the Houston Dream Act Coalition are available for interview. And to the anti-immigrant fearmongers pushing this flawed lawsuit forward: They are ready to stand up for their dreams.