Abbott says Texas could challenge Supreme Court ruling that states educate all, including undocumented

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) on Wednesday said his administration may challenge a Supreme Court ruling that states must provide free public education to all children, including undocumented immigrants.

“Texas already long ago sued the federal government about having to incur the costs of the education program, in a case called Plyler versus Doe,” the governor said on “The Joe Pags Show.”

He added that “the Supreme Court ruled against us on the issue about denying, or let’s say Texas having to bear that burden.”
Plyler v. Doe is a 1982 Supreme Court case that rejected the denial of public education funding for children who are undocumented.

“I think we will resurrect that case and challenge this issue again, because the expenses are extraordinary and the times are different than when Plyler versus Doe was issued many decades ago,” Abbott said.

The Hill has reached out to Abbott for comment. 

Abbott has also been a leading opponent of the Biden administration’s decision to lift Title 42, a Trump-era public health rule that prevented migrants from seeking asylum to stem the spread of COVID-19. Abbott sent a bus full of immigrants to Washington, D.C., last month, in what the White House called a publicity stunt.

The Texas governor, who is running for reelection this year, also temporarily ramped up border inspections for trucks crossing into Texas, creating logjams that cleared only when Mexican governors pledged to increase security measures on their side of the border.

Abbott’s remarks follow the Monday night leak of a draft Supreme Court opinion overturning Roe v. Wade, the landmark case that established the right to an abortion in the U.S. 

That report has prompted some activists and advocates to question what other Supreme Court precedents on basic rights could be overruled in the future.