Ken Paxton

Nov. 3 (UPI) — The Texas-based Kimberly-Clark Corporation announced Monday it reached a deal to purchase Kenvue — the maker of Band-Aid and Tylenol products — for $48.7 billion.

The combination cash and stock transaction will see Kimberly-Clark acquire all outstanding shares of Kenvue common stock. A news release from Kimberly-Clark said the sale will put 10 billion-dollar brands together under the same company.

Kimberly-Clark’s brands include Kleenex, Cottonelle, Huggies, Poise, Pull-Ups, Scott, Viva and Kotex.

“We are excited to bring together two iconic companies to create a global health and wellness leader,” CEO Mike Hsu said.

“With a shared commitment to developing science and technology to provide extraordinary care, we will serve billions of consumers across every stage of life.”

Kimberly-Clark said the sale is expected to close in the second half of 2026 upon approval by shareholders of both companies. Upon completion, Hsu will serve as chairman of the board and CEO of the combined company. Meanwhile, three board members from Kenue will join Kimberly-Clark’s board.

In the wake of the news, Kenvue’s shares increased 20% in premarket trading, and Kimberly-Clark’s decreased by 14% Monday, CNBC reported.

Less than a week before the announcement, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced he was suing Kenvue and its parent company, Johnson & Johnson, for “deceptively marketing” Tylenol as a safe pain reliever.

The Trump administration announced in September that there was a link between Tylenol and an increased risk of autism, though, on Thursday, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy said there wasn’t sufficient evidence to explicitly claim that Tylenol causes autism.

There’s a reason for the fearsome redistricting fight raging across America. It’s about Democrats trying to rein in Donald Trump and his rogue-elephant regime.

Or, if you’re the country’s aspiring strongman, it’s about avoiding accountability and sanction.

That’s why Trump and fellow Republicans are trying to rig the midterm election, by gerrymandering congressional lines in hopes of boosting the GOP’s chances of keeping its tenuous hold on the House past 2026.

California Democrats are seeking payback by redrawing the state’s congressional lines in hopes of swiping five or more GOP-held seats. Voters will have their say on the matter Nov. 4, when they decide Proposition 50.

Of course, there are two branches of Congress. Why, then, is there so much focus on the House? Simply put, it’s because of the steep odds Democrats face trying to win control of the Senate, which are somewhere between slim and none — with slim last seen cinching his saddle before cantering out of town.

Let’s take a moment for a quick refresher.

Every two years, all 435 House seats are on the ballot. Senate terms are staggered and run six years, so roughly a third of the chamber’s 100 seats are up for a vote in each federal election. In 2026, there will be 35 Senate contests.

Most won’t be remotely competitive.

In fact, more than two dozen of those races are effectively over before they begin, given the advantage one party holds over the other. Mississippi, for instance, will send a Democrat to the U.S. Senate the day that Delaware elects a Republican; both will occur right after Trump and Adam Schiff get inked with matching “I Love L.A.” tattoos.

That leaves nine Senate races that are at least somewhat competitive. Of those, three are considered toss-ups: open-seat contests in Michigan and North Carolina and the race in Georgia, where Democrat Jon Ossoff is seeking a second term.

Democrats need to gain four seats to take control of the Senate, meaning even if they win all three of those even-steven races — which is far from certain — they still need to successfully defend seats in Minnesota and New Hampshire and pick up at least one other GOP-held seat.

That’s where the going gets tough.

Kamala Harris won Maine, which suggests Republican Susan Collins could be vulnerable. But the five-term senator has repeatedly managed to hang on, even in good Democratic years.

The three other races are tougher still.

Ohio used to be a major Midwestern battleground, but it’s grown solidly Republican. Democrats landed their prized recruit, former Sen. Sherrod Brown, who narrowly lost his 2024 reelection bid and may be the only Democrat with a realistic shot at the seat. Still, he’s facing an uphill fight in the special election against Republican Jon Husted, an ex-lieutenant governor who was appointed to replace Vice President JD Vance.

In Iowa, where Republican Joni Ernst is retiring, GOP Rep. Ashley Hinson starts out the favorite in another state that’s grown increasingly red. (Hinson, a USC grad and former KABC-TV intern, has taken to trash-talking the Golden State — “I don’t want to see the country look like California” — because that’s what Republicans do these days.)

Which leaves Texas, land of shattered Democratic dreams.

It’s been more than three decades since the party has won a statewide election. Ever since, Democrats have insisted this is the year they’d end their losing streak.

They’ve tried various approaches. A “dream team” that consisted of a slate of Black, white and Latino nominees. A ticket topped by political celebrity Wendy Davis, of filibuster fame. An out-of-nowhere phenom by the name of Beto O’Rourke. All failed.

This time, Democrats are hoping for an assist from the GOP.

Republican Sen. John Cornyn is seeking his fifth term and faces the state’s attorney general, Ken Paxton, in a primary that’s already grown fierce and ugly.

Paxton is MAGA down to the soles of his feet, which would normally give him a big advantage in a GOP primary. But his history — allegations of bribery and corruption, an impeachment trial, a messy divorce — have left him in bad odor with many Republicans.

The GOP’s Senate campaign committee and Majority Leader John Thune have aggressively thrown their weight behind Cornyn, though Trump has so far remained neutral.

Democrats would love to run against Paxton, given polls suggesting a competitive race if he’s the nominee. First, though, they’ll have to sort out their own primary.

Supporters cheer as state Rep. James Talarico (D-Austin) kicks off his campaign for U.S. Senate at Centennial Plaza in Round Rock on Sept. 9.

(Mikala Compton/The Austin American-Statesman / Getty Images)

Colin Allred, the former NFL linebacker who lost in November to Ted Cruz, is running again and faces James Talarico, a state representative and seminarian from the Austin area, who’s became an online sensation with his godly persona and viral take-down of conservative pieties. O’Rourke also hasn’t ruled out another try for Senate.

Garry Mauro, a Democrat and former Texas land commissioner, is clear-eyed in assessing his party’s prospects.

“If you run on the right issues and don’t leave yourself a crazy radical … then I think you have a real chance of building a winning race,” he said. But “to say this isn’t a leaning-R state would be Pollyannish, and I’m not Pollyannish.”

Which means counting on the Lone Star to deliver a Democratic-run U.S. Senate is a bit like trusting a drunken gambler to preserve and protect your rent money.

That’s why Democrats are betting the House in hopes of corralling Trump.

Aug. 29 (UPI) — Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on Friday signed legislation for a new congressional map in the state in an attempt to add five GOP seats in the U.S. House for the 2026 midterm elections.

The border-changing in the Lone Star state has triggered efforts in other states to redraw their maps, including Democrat-dominant California, the largest state ahead of Texas.

Early Saturday, the Texas Senate sent the legislation to the governor for the new redistricting maps, three days after the state’s House passed the bill. For several days, the House couldn’t reach a quorum because Democrats fled the state, including to California and New York. Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton sought to arrest them.

“Today, I signed the One Big Beautiful Map into law,” Abbott said in a video on X. “This map ensures fairer representation in Congress. Texas will be more RED in Congress.”

Holding the document with his signature, he said: “Texas is now more read in the United States Congress.”

The state currently has 38 congressional districts, 25 of which are controlled by Republicans.

In the U.S. House, Republicans currently hold a 219-212 advantage with vacancies from the deaths of three Democrats and one GOP member who resigned.

Congressional maps are traditionally redrawn every decade after data is released from the U.S. Census, which is next scheduled to take place in 2030.

President Donald Trump had asked Abbott to redraw the borders, which required a 30-day special legislative session. When Trump was first president, Democrats took control of the House in 2018. This led to blocking some of his legislative policies and two impeachments.

“I promised we would get this done, and delivered on that promise,” Abbott said in the statement after the Senate approval, calling the legislation “a bill that ensures our maps reflect Texans’ voting preferences.”

He had vowed to call additional special sessions if the quorum still was elusive.

State Sen. Phil King, a Republican, said while the maps will create more competitive districts, he expects Republicans will win the seats.

He said with House Bill 4 that “I believe, should elect more Republicans to the U.S. Congress, but I’m here to tell you, there are no guarantees.”

The redistricted maps are facing a court test. A three-judge panel in a U.S. District court in El Paso set a preliminary injunction hearing for Oct. 1-10.

“This isn’t over — we’ll see these clowns in court,” Texas Democratic Party Chairman Kendall Scudder said. “We aren’t done fighting against these racially discriminatory maps, and fully expect the letter of the law to prevail over these sycophantic Republican politicians who think the rules don’t apply to them.”

Democrats say the new borders are racially discriminatory, including in metro areas of Dallas, Houston, San Antonio and Austin.

“Members, it breaks my heart to see how this illegal and rigged mid-decade redistricting scheme is dividing our state and our country,” Rep. Chris Turner, a Democrat, said. “This is Texas, it’s not Washington D.C. The impulses of outside politicians and their billionaire backers shouldn’t dictate what we do in this chamber, in this House.”

Rep. Todd Hunter, a Republican who wrote the bill, said four of the five new districts were “majority-minority Hispanic” but now trending Republican.

And in California, the new map could add five seats for Democrats, who hold a 43-9 edge. But unlike in Texas, voters in November must approve the change. California’s borders are drawn by a nonpartisan group and new legislation left it up to a referendum.

Gov. Gavin Newsom signed the so-called “Election Rigging Response Act” on Aug. 21.

“The People of California will be able to cast their vote for a Congressional map. Direct democracy that gives us a fighting chance to STOP Donald Trump’s election rigging,” Newsom said on X after the legislation was approved. “Time to fight fire with fire.”

Other states with a Democratic majority, including Illinois, New York, Maryland and Oregon, are considering changing the borders.

On the flip side, legislatures in Ohio, Indiana and Florida may redraw congressional borders before the 2026 midterm elections.

And late Friday, Missouri’s Gov. Mike Kehoe announced a special legislative session to draw a new voting map for his state will begin next Wednesday. Trump had been requesting the move in that state, too.

These states traditionally redo their borders at the start of each decade but in Ohio, under state law, a new congressional map must be approved by November 30. The previous map lacked bipartisan support.

On Tuesday, Utah Judge Dianna Gibson threw out the state’s congressional map, forcing Republicans to defend the current lines or draw a new one. Republicans overruled a ballot measure passed by voters to outlaw gerrymandering.

Republican legislatures control 28 of the 50 states with 18 by Democrats and four chambers divided politically.

Aug. 15 (UPI) — Texas Gov. Greg Abbott called a second special session of the state’s House of Representatives Friday after gaveling out the first 30-day session, hamstrung by Democrats who left the state to prevent redistricting.

Texas state House Democrats fled the state to prevent the state’s Republicans from initiating congressional redistricting efforts.

Congressional redistricting generally happens every decade following the publication of U.S. Census Bureau data. Texas has taken the unusual step to redraw its maps at the urging of President Donald Trump ahead of midterm elections next year. The maps are expected to produce five more GOP districts in the U.S. House of Representatives, where the Republicans hold a narrow 219 to 212 majority.

Critics and Democrats accuse the Republicans of conducting a power grab in an attempt to rig control over the congressional branch, and have backed their Texas colleagues.

“Delinquent House Democrats ran away from their responsibility to pass crucial legislation to benefit the lives of Texans,” Abbott said in a statement. “Numerous other bills to cut property taxes, support human trafficking survivors, eliminate the STAAR test, establish commonsense THC regulations, and many others have all been brought to a halt because Democrats refuse to show up for work. We will not back down from this fight. That’s why I am calling them back today to finish the job. I will continue to use all necessary tools to ensure Texas delivers results for Texans.”

House Speaker Dustin Burrows couldn’t gather enough House members for a quorum and didn’t do any official business Friday.

Burrows signed new civil warrants on the Democrats as soon as the new special session began. The warrants allow the Texas Department of Public Safety to search for them and bring them to the Capitol if they are found in the state.

“Those who have refused to make quorum, I’m sure you’re missing home,” Burrows said. “Do not think you have permission to return to Texas and enjoy a peaceful weekend before finally showing up to work.”

He instructed all House members to return Monday, saying he has been told to expect the absent members will be back at the Capitol.

The state house caucus responded on X to Abbott’s claim that Democrats were holding up flood funding.

“BREAKING: After we issued our conditions to return home yesterday, Texas Republicans have given in and ended their corrupt special session. @GregAbbott_TX can release flood funding at ANY MOMENT. Call his office and tell him to stop the delays: (512) 463-1782.”

Democrats said Thursday that they’d return home for the second session and allow the vote to happen, saying they would “take this fight to the courts.”

“It’s been six weeks since the flood, six weeks where working families have waited for relief while Gov. Abbott sits on billions in disaster funds, choosing to hold our state hostage for his racist, corrupt redistricting scheme,” House Democratic Caucus Chair Gene Wu, D-Houston, said in a prepared statement this week. “Texans are suffering while Greg Abbott chases Donald Trump’s agenda and billionaire donors, ignoring the emergencies facing our neighborhoods.”

California Gov. Gavin Newsom said this week that his state will redistrict in response, handing back five seats to Democrats. The most populous state in the nation, California has 43 Democratic members of the house and nine Republican members.

On Thursday, a federal judge in Illinois rejected Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton‘s request to enforce arrest warrants for Democrats who fled the state.

Paxton has filed a slew of lawsuits since state Democrats left Texas.

The Democrats went to Democratic strongholds, including Illinois, and Texas state House Speaker Dustin Burrows issued civil arrest warrants to force their return to Texas. On Aug. 7, Paxton and Burrows filed a lawsuit seeking Illinois to enforce the return of the Democratic lawmakers.

In his ruling Wednesday, Illinois Judge Scott Larson rejected the Texans’ request, stating it is outside his court’s jurisdiction to compel the Democrats’ return.

Aug. 14 (UPI) — A federal judge in Illinois has rejected Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton‘s request to enforce arrest warrants for Democrats who fled the Lone Star State earlier this month to block Republican redistricting plans.

Paxton has filed a slew of lawsuits in the nearly two weeks since state Democrats left Texas early this month to deny Republicans quorum to pass controversial redistricting maps that will give the GOP five extra seats in the U.S. House of Representatives.

The Democrats went to Democratic strongholds, including Illinois, and Texas state House Speaker Dustin Burrows issued civil arrest warrants to force their return to Texas. On Aug. 7, Paxton and Burrows filed a lawsuit seeking Illinois to enforce the return of the Democratic lawmakers.

In his ruling Wednesday, Illinois Judge Scott Larson rejected the Texans’ request, stating it is outside his court’s jurisdiction to compel the Democrats’ return.

“This Illinois circuit court, under a petition to show cause, does not have the inherent power to direct Illinois law enforcement officers, or to allow the Sergeant-at-Arms of the House of Representatives of the State of Texas, or any officers appointed by her, to execute Texas civil Quorum Warrants upon nonresidents temporarily located in the State of Illinois,” Larson said in his ruling, which was obtained by Democracy Docket and a portion of which was published on BluSky.

The warrants issued by the Texas House of Representatives are “geographically limited,” Larson said.

Paxton and Burrows have yet to comment on the ruling, which marks a blow in their efforts to compel Democrats to return to the state.

Congressional redistricting generally occurs every decade following the publication of U.S. Census Bureau data. Texas has taken the unusual step to redraw its maps at the urging of President Donald Trump ahead of midterm elections next year The maps are expected to produce an additional five GOP districts in the U.S. House of Representatives where the Republicans hold a narrow 219 to 212 majority.

Critics and Democrats accuse the Republicans of conducting a power grab in an attempt to rig control over the ongressional branch, and have backed their Texas colleagues who have left their home state to prevent the passing of the maps during the special session.

Democrats in other states have also come to their support, and California Gov. Gavin Newsom has vowed to respond by redistricting his state to produce an additional five Democratic seats to neutralize those GOP seats being created in Texas.

Aug. 8 (UPI) — Texas Democrat elected officials who fled the state to prevent redistricting face Gov. Greg Abbot’s deadline Friday to return to the state.

The Texas House of Representatives will reconvene at 2 p.m. EDT Friday, and there would need to be at least 12 Democrats to have a quorum.

In a call with reporters, Texas Democratic Rep. Armando Walle, D-Houston, said he believed the majority of his colleagues are still committed to staying out of state until the end of session.

Texas Republicans seek to redraw the state’s maps to add five Republican House seats, an effort Democrats are blocking by fleeing the state to deny the Texas House the two-thirds quorum necessary.

Critics of the new maps said Republicans are seeking to increase Republican seats in the House through racial gerrymandering that reduces the voting power of people of color in the state.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said he’ll go to court to try to remove the Democrats from office if they refuse to return. Gov. Greg Abbott, R, has sued the Democratic leader of the state House, Gene Wu, D-Houston, to have him removed.

Wu responded on CNN: “This is not my seat, and it’s sure as hell not Gov. Abbott’s seat. This seat belongs to the people of the state of Texas, and I’ve taken multiple oaths to defend them and protect them at any cost. … I have an obligation to stop [the redistricting] using every legal means necessary.”

Wu is required to respond Friday to the lawsuit before the Republican-dominated state Supreme Court.

The redistricting fight is going nationwide, with Republicans targeting Republican-heavy states with redistricting at the urging of President Donald Trump, who is concerned about the 2026 midterm elections.

Thursday, JD Vance visited Indianapolis to discuss redistricting in Indiana with Gov. Mike Braun. Republicans are also eyeing Ohio, where a state law requires the maps to be redrawn, and Missouri, for more seats. Democratic governors in California, Illinois, New York and other states are threatening to retaliate with their own redistricting.

Abbott said Friday if the Democrats don’t return to Texas soon, his party might draw a map that is even more GOP-friendly.

“If they don’t start showing up, I may start expanding,” Abbott said on the “Ruthless” podcast, a Fox News-owned conservative show. “We may make it six or seven or eight new seats we’re going to be adding on the Republican side.”

Aug. 6 (UPI) — Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton on Wednesday launched an investigation into potential Democratic presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke over allegations that he “bribed” Democratic state lawmakers who fled the Lone Star State to prevent Republicans from passing GOP-favorable congressional maps that critics say strip power from voters of color.

Paxton announced the investigation amid a deepening row between the state’s Democrats and Republicans. The state’s minority Democrats fled Texas over the weekend to deny Republicans the quorum needed to certify the controversial maps. The state’s Republican leadership has responded with threats of arrest and to vacate their congressional seats if they don’t return by Friday, as well as investigations into anyone who solicits funds to support their effort.

Paxton said Wednesday that he is investigating the O’Rourke-led Powered by People, which is reportedly covering the costs of Texas Democrats who fled the state.

He also said the Powered by People group may have violated bribery laws and state laws, such as those governing campaign or officeholder contributions and expenditures, coercion of a public servant and abuse of office.

“Any Democrat coward breaking the law by taking a Beto Bribe will be held accountable,” Paxton said in a statement announcing the investigation. “These jet-setting runaways have already lost public trust by abandoning our state, and Texans deserve to know if they received illegal bribes to do it.”

The new maps, if certified, are expected to give Republicans five additional seats in the U.S. House of Representatives ahead of next year’s midterm elections. Critics and Democrats argue that the maps draw lines that dilute the voting power of Latino and Black people, while serving as a power grab by President Donald Trump through rigging the GOP representation in the House.

Democrats have widely supported their Texan colleagues’ actions to prevent a quorum. Republicans have viewed the move as a shirking from their responsibilities.

O’Rourke, a former U.S. House member and senatorial candidate, has been traveling throughout several states, including Missouri, Wisconsin, Indiana, Nebraska and others, trying to generate grassroots support for the Texas Democrats.

In response to the investigation, O’Rourke accused Paxton of hypocrisy.

“The guy impeached for bribery is going after the folks trying to stop the theft of five congressional seats,” he said on X.

Paxton was impeached by the state House but was acquitted of all corruption charges by the Senate.

The Republican attorney general has vowed that he will seek “aggressive legal action” against any Democrat who is not present at the House on Friday, while Abbott has called for their arrests.

Aug. 4 (UPI) — Texas Democrats have fled the Lone Star State in an effort to block Republicans from advancing state House maps that not only advantage the GOP by five seats but that critics say target the voting power of people of color.

The local Democrats traveled to Illinois and other Democratic-led states to prevent a Republican quorum — meaning the minimum number of congressional members needed for a vote — from being reached to advance the controversial maps on Monday when the House reconvenes at 3 p.m. local time.

The Republicans hold a nearly 60% majority in the Texas House with 88 representatives to the Democrats’ 62.

With Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker behind him, Texas House Democratic Caucus Chair Gene Wu told reporters at a press conference that they were armed with the moral responsibility to leave the state.

“We’re not here to have fun. We’re not here because it is easy, and we did not make the decision to come here today lightly,” he said. “But we come here today with absolute moral clarity that this is the absolutely the right thing to do to protect the people of the state of Texas.”

The Republicans released their proposed Texas congressional map late last month that, if adopted, would add five new Republican congressional seats. The bill, House Bill 4, has since been hastily moved through the state’s Congress, with the redistricting committee passing it to the House floor on Saturday.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Texas has rebuked the GOP maps as “designed to dilute the voting power of communities of color.”

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, on Saturday warned the Democrats against breaking quorum, issuing a letter stating by not being present when the House reconvenes for the special session, they could be removed from office and face felony charges, on allegations of them accepting funds to assist in their violation of legislative duties. Abbott did not provide proof to support the allegations.

“Real Texans do not run from a fight,” he said in the letter. “But that’s exactly what most of the Texas House Democrats just did.”

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton also took to X to say that the Democrats “should be found, arrested and brought back to the Capitol immediately.

“We should use every tool at our disposal to hunt down those who think they are above the law,” he said.

During the Sunday press conference, Wu lambasted Abbott for using the people of Texas as hostages “in a political game” as the Republicans were seeking to pass the congressional maps before filing a promised bill to aid those suffering from last month’s flooding that killed more than 135 people.

“Instead, they spent their entire time playing dirty political games that only help themselves,” he said. “And what is even worse — their attempts to do this, their attempts to disenfranchise Texans, the tool their using is a racist, gerrymandered map, a map that seeks to use racial lines to divide hardworking communities who have spent decades building up their power and strengthening their voices.”

The Democratic National Committee has voiced support for the Texas Democrats, issuing a statement saying it was “time to fight back” against Republicans, including President Donald Trump who “have tried to get away with rigging the system, breaking the rules and scheming to hold onto power.”

“For weeks, we’ve been warning that if Republicans in Texas want a showdown — if they want to delay flood relief to cravenly protect Donald Trump from an inevitable midterm meltdown — then we’d give them that showdown,” DNC Chair Ken Martin said.

“Republicans thought they could just rig the maps and change the rules without the American people taking notice. They were dead wrong.”

June 25 (UPI) — The Trump administration on Wednesday filed a lawsuit challenging Minnesota laws that provide some undocumented immigrants with higher-education tuition benefits not offered to U.S. citizens.

The lawsuit is the third time the Justice Department has challenged states’ laws this month amid the Trump administration’s crackdown on immigration.

The filing challenges the Minnesota Dream Act, which was signed into state law in May 2013 to make illegible some undocumented immigrants in the state for in-state tuition rates, privately funded financial aid and state financial aid.

Federal prosecutors allege the Dream Act discriminates against U.S. citizens from other states who must pay higher out-of-state tuition rates while violating federal law that states “an alien who is not lawfully present in the United States shall not be eligible on the basis of residence within a state … for any postsecondary education benefit unless a citizen or national of the United States is eligible for such a benefit.”

“No state can be allowed to treat Americans like second-class citizens in their own country by offering financial benefits to illegal aliens,” Attorney General Pamela Bondi said in a statement.

“The Department of Justice just won on this exact issue in Texas, and we look forward to taking this fight to Minnesota in order to protect the rights of American citizens first.”

Earlier this month, federal prosecutors filed lawsuit challenging a similar law in Texas. Instead of a legal fight as is anticipated in Minnesota, Texas’ Republican-led government joined the Trump administration seeking the enjoin the Texas Dream Act of 2001.

And the court sided with them, handing the Trump administration a win in its fight against immigration.

“Ending this discriminatory and unAmerican provision is a major victory for Texas,” the state’s attorney general, Ken Paxton, said in a June 4 statement.

On Tuesday, however, the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas and several civil rights and pro-democracy organizations filed a motion to intervene in the Texas case on behalf of students and related groups, arguing the order “creates sweeping uncertainty for impacted students and colleges and universities.”

“The Texas Legislature passed the Texas Dream Act with overwhelming bipartisan support because Dreamers represent the best of us in our classrooms, board rooms and communities,” David Donatti, senior staff attorney at the ACLU of Texas, said in a statement.

“While the attorney general normally would defend state laws, the decision not to means that somebody must. We are proud to advocate for our Dreamers alongside Texas schools and students.”

The Justice Department last week also filed a lawsuit against a similar law in Kentucky.

The lawsuits follow President Donald Trump signing several immigration-related executive orders including “Protecting American Communities from Criminal Aliens,” which directed the attorney general to identify laws “favoring aliens over any groups of American citizens,” including “State laws that provide in-State higher education tuition to alines but not to out-of-State American citizens.”

Twenty-three states and the District of Columbia provide in-state tuition to their undocumented students, according to the Higher Ed Immigration Portal. Eighteen states and D.C. also provide access to state financial aid.