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There are about 408,000 illegal immigrants enrolled in U.S. universities. That number is staggering—and it predates President Biden’s border policies, which have resulted in an unprecedented 10 million illegal crossings in just four years.
How did the country get to such a reckless place? It’s hard to fully explain, but I was on the phone last night with a multitude of lawyers who were more than happy to provide the background.
One pivotal moment in this story came in 1982 with the Supreme Court’s Plyler v. Doe decision. The Court struck down a Texas law that denied state funds for educating the children of illegal immigrants. In what can only be called judicial activism (read the dissenting opinion), the Court stretched the Fourteenth Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause to argue that denying education to illegal immigrants would unfairly disadvantage them and burden society.
As one Texas lawyer told me, Plyler “created an incentive for illegals to cross the border and then claim sanctuary to parasitize our education system, similar to birthright citizenship incentivizing them to bring pregnant women across the border to give birth on U.S. soil.” (Read “The Question of Birthright Citizenship” by Peter H. Schuck and Rogers M. Smith.)
But Plyler wasn’t the only problem—it just made education an incentive.
[RELATED: H-1B Visa Undermines American Students and Workers]
The real culprit here is decades of inaction by both political parties. Neither side wants to fix this mess. Democrats see illegal immigrants as a future voting bloc, and Republicans, bowing to corporate interests, are happy to look the other way to exploit cheap labor.
Universities benefit from all of this—both ideologically and financially. Run by leftists committed to open borders, Plyler—though it doesn’t grant them any legal authority—validates universities’ moral posturing on educating illegal immigrants. With no enforcement to stop them, universities also feel justified in openly defying federal immigration laws, even using legal counsel to find loopholes that help shield illegal students from deportation.
State policies—often written out of necessity because the federal government won’t act—only make things worse by creating an unfair system. In Texas, for example, the DREAM Act allows illegal students to pay in-state tuition—benefits denied to out-of-state Americans. In 2023, New York Governor Kathy Hochul and Mayor Eric Adams turned public universities into migrant shelters, displacing students and raising safety concerns. At SUNY Buffalo, there were reports of sexual assaults tied to the influx of migrants. And who can forget Governor Tim Walz expanding Minnesota’s DREAM Act to offer free tuition to illegal students at state universities?
Universities aren’t just moralizing—they’re cashing in. They rake in taxpayer money for enrolling illegal students and pad their “diversity, equity, and inclusion” numbers, which come with grants and accolades. Meanwhile, American students are left struggling to secure those same benefits while, in many instances, paying top dollar for their education.
Moreover, this unchecked influx has overwhelmed the system. Janet Eyring, an English education expert, has warned that non-English-speaking migrants place massive burdens on schools. Many require years to gain proficiency, and some never do, becoming permanent economic and social burdens.
In most countries, this would be unthinkable. But in America, it’s business as usual. And this week, legacy higher ed media doubled down, condemning Trump’s deportation efforts and stirring panic over potential ICE presence on campuses.
The fearmongering is nothing new. For years, universities and their media allies have spun enforcement of immigration law as an attack on their moral sanctuaries. They frame deportations as cruel and unusual, conveniently ignoring that harboring illegal immigrants is a blatant violation of federal law.
[RELATED: Higher Education Fuels Corporate Profits at the Expense of American Workers]
What’s lost in all the noise is the simple truth: U.S. Code § 1324 clearly prohibits aiding and abetting illegal immigration. By providing financial aid, shelter, and employment to illegal immigrants, universities are undermining the rule of law and daring the federal government to intervene.
This is not about targeting vulnerable people or tearing apart communities. It’s about enforcing laws that have been on the books for decades. When universities openly flout those laws, they invite chaos—turning campuses into untouchable enclaves for lawbreakers.
Deportations aren’t just a legal necessity—they’re a moral one. Illegal immigrants in the education system aren’t just taking spots and resources away from Americans. Many are exploiting loopholes and lenient policies, knowing they won’t face consequences. ICE needs to be on campuses to restore some sense of order.
This problem isn’t going away. If Congress doesn’t penalize schools that openly defy immigration law, the system will continue to spiral out of control. (Read National Association of Scholars’ “America’s National Interest.”)
For too long, universities have hidden behind a moral façade while playing a dangerous game with the law. It’s time to end the charade and enforce accountability—because no institution, no matter how sacred it claims to be, is above the law.
Follow Jared Gould on X
Image: “Protesting ICE and Deportation Raids Chicago Illinois” 7/13/2019 by Charles Edward Miller
“Democrats see illegal immigrants as a future voting bloc, and Republicans, bowing to corporate interests, are happy to look the other way to exploit cheap labor.”
And this is why MAGA exists — *both* parties have abandoned their base — neither the working class nor small business see any reason to support the parties they once did.
Trump has done what Franklin Roosevelt did — prior to 1932, the Democratic party was the geriatric legacy of the Jacksonian Democracy much as the pre-MAGA GOP was the geriatric legacy to opposition to 20 years of Roosevelt and Truman (including the quite unpopular Korean Conflict).
Trump is no more a traditional Republican than Roosevelt was a traditional (i.e. “Jacksonian”) Democrat.
“Universities benefit from all of this—both ideologically and financially.”
It needs to be remembered that revenue is based on headcounts and FTEs and this is particularly true of public institutions where the legislative allocation is largely based on how many students are attending.
However STEM courses cost a *lot* more to teach than the “AmeriKKKa Sucks” diatribe courses. STEM requires labs, equipment, journals, and often newly built buildings to comply with current codes. (An open window doesn’t count for “adequate ventilation” in a chemistry lab anymore — in 1910, it did…)
STEM undergrads wind up costing the IHE money while the “studies” undergrads are cash cows. And if you are an Illegal Alien with limited English and little (if any) K-12 education, what do you major in. (I’ve encountered people illiterate in their own language as well as English… And if you are illiterate, there are a limited number of majors open to you…
“… allows illegal students to pay in-state tuition—benefits denied to out-of-state Americans.”
Two background facts to remember — first, the Appalachian mountains split in Massachusetts to become the Green Mountains in Vermont and the White Mountains in New Hampshire — the Connecticut River is a fault line deeper than the San Andreas and geography led to first railroads and then highways tending to run North/South rather than to the West (the ocean is to the East).
Today from Boston there three 8-lane limited access highways going North but only one 6-lane Interstate going West, and that drops a lane after the turnoff for Hartford & NYC. Hence 12 travel lanes going the 25 miles North to the New Hampshire border and 75 more, while only two lanes going 100 miles West.
Southern New Hampshire has become the suburbs of Boston, with raises the second issue — while Massachusetts has a state income tax. New Hampshire does not. NH residents working in Boston have to pay the Mass tax — in a case that literally went to the US Supreme Court, they had to pay it during COVID when they were working from home — in New Hampshire.
Hence Massachusetts TAXPAYERS, whose taxes over the years have funded UMass, are required to pay nonresident tuition rates (three times higher) while Illegal Aliens (whose parents work “under the table” and don’t pay the income tax) GET THE CHEAPER INSTATE RATE.
What’s even worse is that no one is going to challenge this because their kid at UMass may wind up dead — it’s happened before out there….
“Universities aren’t just moralizing—they’re cashing in. They rake in taxpayer money for enrolling illegal students and pad their “diversity, equity, and inclusion” numbers, which come with grants and accolades. Meanwhile, American students are left struggling to secure those same benefits while, in many instances, paying top dollar for their education.
Moreover, this unchecked influx has overwhelmed the system. Janet Eyring, an English education expert, has warned that non-English-speaking migrants place massive burdens on schools.”
Kind of hard to have both of these contradictory statements. A massive burden at the same time as cashing in?
Probably the illegal college students are a financial burden on the public universities.
In many states, the legislatures actually mandate that the illegals are eligible for the colleges, after K-12 schools.
That makes some sense — if the federal government is incompetent to deal with the illegal immigrant situation — for example, Trump and Biden in their terms — would the states want to raise a bunch of illiterate immigrants?
“Kind of hard to have both of these contradictory statements. A massive burden at the same time as cashing in?”
Yes — resources are shifted and hence not available to other students.
Ever hear of “cost shifting”?
My intent was partly obscured by a confusing point from the quotation I used. The “cashing in” sought by universities supposedly consists of illegal students bringing in tuition dollars + (usually pretty meager these days) state subsidies. Yet this is supposedly this at the same time a massive burden to the school. (DEI is actually too small a portion of the budget to really matter, and that’s where some confusion might enter.)
In reality, the illegal students — who often, I repeat, are often there at the schools at the behest of the legislature — are probably somewhat of a burden, much like the other in-state students paying in-state tuition with the same state subsidy. (In this time of student shortfalls — this admittedly seems less likely to exist than was thought last week — may make the illegal students a welcome financial cushion.)
But there is dubious that the colleges are engaged in a conspiracy to cash in on illegal in-state students.
I doubt, and see little evidence, that the author knows enough about academic budgets to realize this.
What is exactly is the contradiction?