Gov. Greg Abbott, R-Texas, said Wednesday his administration might challenge a U.S. Supreme Court decision requiring states to offer free public education to all children, including those of undocumented immigrants.
Abbott spoke a day after Chief Justice John Roberts confirmed the authenticity of a leaked draft opinion suggesting the Supreme Court might be prepared to overturn the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade case that legalized abortion nationwide.
In 1982, a 5-4 majority found that a Texas law denying funding for education of undocumented immigrant children violated the 14th Amendment.
"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," Abbott said on The Joe Pags Show.
"And the Supreme Court ruled against us on the issue about denying, or let's say Texas having to bear that burden. 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 has been a strong critic of President Joe Biden's immigration policies that have resulted in more migrants crossing the southern border.
There were 221,303 border encounters in March, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection statistics — the most in any single month during the Biden administration.
Breitbart then reported that arrests of migrants crossing the southern border hit a record high for the month of April with 201,000.
Abbott in April announced plans to bus migrants to Washington as a way to get Biden's attention in response to the lifting of Title 42 — a public health rule implemented by former President Donald Trump during the COVID-19 pandemic — that eases the rejection of asylum seekers at the border.
"Securing the border would cost Texas nothing if the federal government was doing its job but because Joe Biden is not securing the border, the state of Texas is having to step up and spend Texas taxpayer money doing the federal government's job," Abbott said at the time, The Texas Tribune reported.
Abbott last week asked Texans to help fund his initiative of sending migrants from the southern border to Washington, D.C.
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