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University of Texas students Amy DonJuan, from left, Eduardo Vazquez and Marco Julian Gonzalez pose for a photo on Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2026. The students signed on to an\u00a0amicus brief to stop a Texas judge\u2019s ruling to end in-state tuition for undocumented students.<\/p>\n
Jay Janner\/Austin American-Statesman<\/p>\n
A University of Texas student dreamed of being a doctor since she was a little girl. She wanted to connect with people, and as a doctor, treat the whole person, not just the condition.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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\u201cIt sounds cliche, but that\u2019s what I\u2019ve been my whole life. Just a number, just something to be accounted for, but not really a person,\u201d she said. \u201cI didn\u2019t want that to be the situation when I treated patients.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Attending UT, the student excelled in neuroscience and pre-med classes while interning at a faculty lab. She studied for hours in the library with friends, taking breaks to laugh and talk about boys. She was two semesters away<\/a> from graduation when she learned she might not get her chance to walk the stage.<\/p>\n On June 4, a friend texted her an article, reporting that a North Texas judge<\/a> had struck down the state\u2019s 25-year-old Dream Act. Over the last quarter-century, the law gave in-state tuition to Texas high school graduates without legal immigration status if they promised to pursue citizenship. The judge\u00a0blocked\u00a0the law just six hours after the United States Department of Justice sued Texas. The state declined to fight.\u00a0<\/p>\n As the Trump administration cracked down on illegal immigration, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton celebrated<\/a> the quick decision, arguing the law was unconstitutional because it gave special benefits to non-U.S. citizens\u00a0\u2014 even though the act prescribed more stringent residency standards<\/a> than for other students.\u00a0NBC News <\/a>reported that the DOJ coordinated with Texas to kill the act, citing a recording of a Justice Department official.\u00a0<\/p>\n The legal battle changed everything for the student, who used the Dream Act to make higher education affordable in her first three years at UT.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n The student, who the American-Statesman is not naming to protect her identity, does not have legal immigration status. After the judge\u2019s decision, she saw her Fall 2025 tuition skyrocket from $5,883 to $22,485. She paid what she could, meeting the initial deposit. But after two weeks of classes, she was $17,000 short. She had to withdraw, only recovering some of the initial payment.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cMy whole life, my identity has been based on being a student,\u201d she said. \u201cWhenever that is taken away from you, it just feels like the sky is falling.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n The student, who was born in Mexico but has lived in Texas since she was 2 years old, was one of an estimated 57,000 students across Texas left in limbo after the judge\u2019s preliminary injunction. But\u00a0the case isn\u2019t closed\u00a0<\/a>\u2014 and Latino UT students who have legal status are determined to ensure people recognize the consequence of the change.<\/p>\n READ MORE: Nonprofit fights back after Texas ends in-state tuition for undocumented students<\/a><\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n UT\u2019s chapter of Sigma Lambda Beta, a Latino-based fraternity, and its sister sorority, Sigma Lambda Gamma,\u00a0have signed on to an amicus brief to show the court the harm of repealing the law. They were the only UT-based student organizations to sign the legal document, which the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals will read before deciding how to proceed in the coming months.<\/p>\n Motivated by a desire to advocate for their members and ensure they can finish their education, the students testified, met with lawmakers and worked with\u00a0nonprofits to ensure students without legal status have a voice as their education is threatened.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Texas Dream Act is now in litigation. Some people think it\u2019s repealed. Some people think it\u2019s gone, but that\u2019s not the truth,\u201d said Marco Julian Gonzalez, a fraternity brother and student at the University of Texas McCombs School of Business. \u201cI want people to remember. Don\u2019t forget about these students.\u201d<\/p>\n \u00a0How the Texas Dream Act lawsuit changed everything<\/p>\n University of Texas students Eduardo Vazquez, from left, Amy DonJuan and Marco Julian Gonzalez pose for a photo on Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2026. The students signed on to an\u00a0amicus brief to stop a Texas judge\u2019s ruling to end in-state tuition for undocumented students.<\/p>\n Jay Janner\/Austin American-Statesman<\/p>\n Dozens, including Austin Community College,<\/a> have petitioned for the Dream Act to be restored after the swift\u00a0ruling. Several parties are currently appealing a judge\u2019s refusal<\/a>\u00a0to let them join the case.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n The student the Statesman spoke with said she couldn\u2019t tell her story with her name without fear of getting death threats, being deported and being separated from her family. But other UT students are signing their names onto the legal battle to stand up for their peers.<\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019re state educated students like anyone else, right? But they\u2019re being treated differently,\u201d Gonzalez said. At a time he felt no one on campus was standing up for students, his fraternity had to, he said.<\/p>\n RELATED:\u00a0ACC board to join lawsuit over Texas Dream Act repeal<\/a><\/p>\n The fraternity\u2019s advocacy over the Dream Act started a year ago, Gonzalez said, when a Republican senator filed a bill to repeal the law. The UT chapters of Sigma Lambda Beta and Latina-based sorority Kappa Delta Chi testified in front of lawmakers to represent their peers who would lose in-state tuition with the law\u2019s elimination.They met with lawmakers from both parties, worked with writing tutors to craft testimony with Dream Act students and held a protest last February for immigrant rights at the capitol with more than 300 people in attendance.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n When the bill died<\/a>, Gonzalez thought they had won, he said.<\/p>\n But two days after the legislative session ended, Gonzalez learned otherwise. He was on a train with his family when he got a news alert: A judge had blocked the Dream Act from being enforced. No student without legal status was heard before the ruling was made.<\/p>\n With school out of session and the injunction in place, uncertainty crept in. Students without legal status couldn\u2019t speak out without fear of deportation, and universities were rushing to determine how to implement the ruling.\u00a0<\/p>\n This summer, UT sent an email to 952 students asking them to submit documentation proving their legal residency. It is not known how many were reclassified as out-of-state\u00a0students in accordance with the judge\u2019s ruling. Students could\u00a0face legal ramifications <\/a>if they misrepresented their status, creating a culture of fear, advocates said.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n \u201cStudents were scrambling trying to come up with thousands of dollars,\u201d said Amy DonJuan, a Kappa Delta Chi member and UT Plan II student who testified with Gonzalez.<\/p>\n A fraternity steps up as undocumented classmates are pushed out<\/p>\n As the summer went on, the fraternity members texted frequently to determine their plans.<\/p>\n \u201cWith everything that\u2019s going on, we understand that either way, our students are being targeted,\u201d\u00a0DonJuan remembers thinking. \u201cAnd so if they\u2019re being targeted already, we need to speak out, and we need to be doing something.\u201d<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Kristin Etter, an attorney for the Texas Immigration Law Council, a group that works to protect immigrant rights, met the students when they testified at the Texas Capitol. She formed a coalition to help inform the judge on the effect of ending the Dream Act through an amicus brief, which shefiled as a third party. As part of her work, she connected with the students.<\/p>\n The UT students helped inform the brief\u2019s understanding of what campus would miss with the students who could no longer afford their education.<\/p>\n Eduardo Emmanuel Vasquez, a junior and member of Sigma Lambda Beta, watched first hand as friends heard the news and scrambled to figure out their plans. He knew someone who sold everything they could to afford their last semester at UT. He saw others, \u201cright there at the finish line,\u201d have to drop out due to surging tuition prices.<\/p>\n \u201cHaving all that pressure your entire life and then doing things correctly just for the government not to support you at the end\u00a0\u2014 it\u2019s something just heartbreaking. Horrible,\u201d Vasquez said.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Like any other fraternity, Sigma Lambda Beta, which has 27 current members, hosts parties, tailgates and \u2018rush\u2019 recruitment events. But unlike other Greek Life, he said, members view it as a key part of the group\u2019s\u00a0mission to stand up for its current and future members, which means advocating for those who need the Dream Act to access education, Gonzalez said.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve had members who are recipients of the Texas Dream Act, and that\u2019s how they\u2019re able to be here,\u201d Gonzalez said. \u201cWe don\u2019t ask where you were born or what your status is. You worked hard to get here at UT just like any of the rest of us.\u201d<\/p>\n Their fraternity was founded by Latino people, for Latinos. Service\u00a0\u2014 and showing up for their peers\u00a0\u2014 is a fundamental part of the group\u2019s existence. Part of why people aren\u2019t talking about it on campus is because those who are affected can no longer afford to enroll, he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIt falls to us\u201d to fight, Gonzalez said.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n A judge accepted Etter\u2019s brief\u00a0<\/a>\u2014 with the student organizations signed on\u00a0\u2014 in November as the Fifth Circuit prepares to hear an appeal to reopen the case.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s really courageous,\u201d Etter said of the students. \u201cEspecially when we are in a time where you have some of our most powerful corporations, universities, really lacking courage and not wanting to be at the forefront of doing what\u2019s right, you basically have a group of 18 to 19 year old kids that are.\u201d<\/p>\n Fear, fallout and rising tuition on Texas campuses<\/p>\n Etter\u2019s legal argument focuses on what Texas\u00a0\u2014 and higher education\u00a0\u2014 will miss with the Dream Act struck down.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n As of 2024, Texas is still far behind on its college attainment goals. The state aims to have 550,000 people graduate with a credential or higher annually, but as of 2024, Texas is more than 220,000 people short of its yearly goal.<\/p>\n Dream Act students are estimated to add more than $461 million to the Texas economy annually in tuition, taxes and spending power, the Texas Immigration Law Council estimates.<\/a> Texas will lose that money if they unenroll, the brief argues.<\/p>\n \u201cThat is really the hope of the amicus\u00a0\u2014 to show that we\u2019re not just saying that this is a good thing for immigrants,\u201d Etter said. \u201cWe\u2019re saying it\u2019s a good thing for Texas.\u201d<\/p>\n Fear still remains on campus, DonJuan said. Her sorority sisters with varying immigration statuses remain eligible for in-state tuition, but they worry Texas will eliminate support for other immigrant students.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n When the students started on campus, UT had the Monarch program,<\/a> a place where a full-time staff member worked to support students without legal status in their educational journey. In 2024, that office closed when the university complied with a law that ended diversity, equity and inclusion support<\/a>. A scholarship that supported students without legal status also folded.<\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019re safe for now, but how much longer?\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Barbara Hines, an immigration lawyer who spent her career ensuring immigrants could access education, feels hopeful for the Dream Act\u2019s restoration. But she believes it is \u201cvery important\u201d for students to be engaged as the legal battle continues. Last week, the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board adopted rules to help schools abide by the ruling, but before it did, confusion led to schools complying in different ways, she said.<\/p>\n By testifying at the Capitol, to the coordinating board and advocating through the brief, the students help hold Texas accountable to remembering students impacted, Hines said.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n \u201cIt gives voice to impacted students,\u201d Hines said. It tells them they aren\u2019t alone, she added.<\/p>\n \u2018I don\u2019t have any other options\u2019: A student\u2019s future on hold<\/p>\n Eight months after the world changed for the UT student who aspires to be a doctor, life at the University of Texas has gone on.\u00a0<\/p>\n She plans to return to campus in May to watch her friends and former classmates graduate. As she saves money and wrestles with how to continue her education, she hopes to get back on track to walk the stage herself.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t have any other options,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n