This story was originally reported by Nadra Nittle of The 19th . Meet Nadra and read more of their reporting on gender, politics and policy.

Two decades ago, Texas made history as the first state to grant in-state tuition to undocumented students. Now, it has taken that opportunity away — upending thousands of young lives and, advocates warn, potentially influencing other states to restrict higher education access for immigrants.

The U.S. Justice Department filed a complaint against Texas in June seeking to prevent the continued implementation of a 2001 policy that has allowed tens of thousands of undocumented students to pay the same for college as Texans with legal status. Rather than defend the Texas Dream Act in court, the state’s Attorney General, Ken Paxton, agreed to a “cons

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