“[N]o plausible distinction with respect to Fourteenth Amendment ‘jurisdiction’ can be drawn between resident aliens whose entry into the United States was lawful, and resident aliens whose entry was unlawful.”

– Justice William Brennan, in a Supreme Court majority opinion (Plyler v. Doe, 1982) striking down a Texas law denying illegal immigrants access to public school on the basis that no substantial state interest is served through such a denial. Though Plyler has not been applied to education beyond K-12, there is a body of legal thought which indicates that it’s a matter of time before it might be and state laws seeking to deny in-state tuition for illegals (the opposite of the Texas DREAM Act which is controversial in national Republican circles but not in Texas) could be struck down under its theory.