AUSTIN (KXAN) - A Texas lawmaker filed a bill to repeal a law that allows college students, who came to the U.S. illegally, to pay in-state tuition.

Right now, students are eligible for in-state tuition under the Texas DREAM Act if they’ve lived in Texas for three years, are seeking legal status and if they graduated from high school or received a GED.

State Rep. Kyle Biedermann (R-Fredericksburg) says he filed the bill because taxpayers are paying for students that are not Texas residents.

“We’re giving taxpayer funding to those people that came here illegally, that broke the law,” said Biedermann. “That’s just not right.”

“It’s in his interest to do this kind of bill,” said James Barragan with the Dallas Morning News. But he thinks it's divisive, and will be difficult to move forward,. ”Overall, the majority of the House is not going to have an appetite for it,” Barragan said.

Lawmakers have made several attempts to repeal the law in recent years. All of them failed, in part because many in the business community support the Act.

“What the business community is telling lawmakers is, ‘this makes sense. As an economic policy, it makes sense. So leave it alone,’” said Joy Diaz with KUT.

If the bill passes, it could cost students more than three times the amount of in-state tuition. Students like Daniela Rojas, a University of Texas at Austin student protected under the Texas DREAM Act say the bill isn’t fair.

“We deserve education, the right to education, and the right to have affordable education, just as anybody else should, doesn’t matter what the legal status should be.” said Rojas.

Governor Greg Abbott previously said he would not veto a bill to repeal the Texas DREAM Act, saying lawmakers who passed it had a “noble cause,” but during the Texas Governor’s Debate in September, he said it needs to be changed.

“The law that passed said that these students who received in-state tuition had to demonstrate that they were on a pathway toward achieving legal status. However, there is no apparatus in the law to make sure that, in fact, is being done. Hence, the law as structured is flawed, and it has to be fixed," said Abbott.

https://www.kxan.com/news/texas/stat...act/1633616433