I'll look past your belief that insulting Texans by suggesting we are somehow un-American because we don't give non-tax payers tax payer's rates somehow wins you support, and just address your questions. Illegals do pay state taxes every time they buy something and by being renters the same way everyone else in Texas pays them. As far as a few residents of Texas border states, they do get in-state rates based on economic contributions to our state. Some are deals where states assist Texans secure the US Border, some involve commerce and power purchase from Texas and others are based on proximity that causes them shop in Texas thereby making them tax payers.
The Law does not give other Americans a disadvantage at Texas schools, being non-Texas residence give them that disadvantage, the same disadvantage Texans have in other states. No state anywhere in this country gives in-state tuition to non-residence, it is the residency requirement that makes them eligible and they meet it. Every child in the country is capable of meeting those requirements if they want to come to our schools, all they have to do is get their parents to move to Texas.
I understand that you don't like the law, I don't like it either. I personally think it gives colleges too much power on deciding who is complying and that it should be done case by case so we know that it is helping the people we intended to help not just hoping that it does. But don't characterize it as something its not and don't think that it's OK to question the patriotism of Texans just because you don't like a law they past. We're in the fight which is more than I can so about the majority of Americans who think the problem is "a bunch of Mexicans are stealing their lawn mowing jobs" and contribute by bitching about Rick Perry. Our tax dollars are going to secure the border when they should be going to our classrooms and our roads. It's our cops who are risking their lives and its our citizens that are taking gun fire from across the border. We've got 1.1 to 1.2 million illegals in this state thanks to the un-willingness of the US Citizens to demand that the US Government does its Constitutional duty to stop it. You want to help then help us force the Government close the border because it's not Rick Perry who shut down the electronic frontier, it wasn't Rick Perry who sent the National Guard home, and it damn sure wasn't Rick Perry who is arming them, it is Rick Perry that is using our state dollars to try to stop it.
As for the excuse that this is a residency requirement: PUH-LEAZE. These aren't residents; they're squatters. A bad court decision doesn't justify a bad decision made by the polity.
As for this especially idiotic remark:
We're in the fight which is more than I can so about the majority of Americans who think the problem is "a bunch of Mexicans are stealing their lawn mowing jobs" and contribute by bitching about Rick Perry.
You haven't been paying attention on FR very long if you think this is the problem, or even the perception of the problem by any serious conservative. Illegals are a net drain on our entire economy, and they are causing an enormous distortion of our political process and institutions.
Given the demographics of leftards, if there were no illegals in the US, or if they had been dealt with properly in 1986, the country would be far to the right of where it is today, and in ten years the Democrat Party would be relegated to (just barely) New England-only status. We are allowing leftists to import millions of left-wing voters whose political history has transformed a country rich in national resources and free of many of the pedestrian obligations of advanced nations by the prosperity of its superpower neighbor into a Third World shiitehole.
Given its natural endowments, there is simply NO excuse for the status of Mexico. This is Colombia on our southern border, and its people continue to elect the same commies and criminals generation after generation. They are and will do the same thing here. Texas is a big state, so maybe you haven't been to Pecos or El Paso lately, but I have. FYI: that isn't really part of "Texas" any more. I've also done work in Northern Mexico, and I see very little difference North or South of the Rio Grande.
No one concerned about this issue thinks the problem is Mexican gardeners. Get a clue.