Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said he thinks his state will "resurrect" and "challenge" a 40-year-old Supreme Court decision requiring states to offer free public education to all children, including undocumented immigrants, the Austin American-Statesman first reported.

The Supreme Court case in question, Plyler v. Doe, was brought to the court after Texas passed a law prohibiting the state from using public funds to educate children who came into the country illegally. The Supreme Court ruled in a 5-4 decision in 1982 that the state's actions violated the 14th Amendment's "Equal Protection Clause" and struck down Texas' law.

Abbott's comments came during a right-wing radio talk show, The Joe Pags Show, after the host complained about the "burden on communities" that he argued immigrants create.

"The challenges put on our public systems is extraordinary," Abbott replied. "Texas already long ago sued the federal government about having to incur the costs of the education program, in a case called Plyler v. Doe. And the Supreme Court ruled against us on the issue about denying, or let's say Texas having to bear that burden."

Gov. Greg Abbott on Monday voiced support for a school voucher plan, offering his clearest embrace in recent memory of letting parents use taxpayers dollars to send their kids to non-public schools.

“We can fully fund public schools while also giving parents a choice about which school is right for their child,” Abbott said during a campaign event in San Antonio. “Empowering parents means giving them the choice to send their children to any public school, charter school or private school with state funding following the student.”

Abbott has long been a supporter of the broad concept of “school choice,” but his focus on it has ebbed and flowed throughout his governorship. His commitment to the cause was thrown into question by a recent string of endorsements in Texas House primary runoffs where he backed Republicans opposed by school-choice proponents, including U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz.

Critics of vouchers say they hurt public schools, an argument that Abbott’s Democratic challenger, Beto O’Rourke, quickly made after the governor’s remarks.

“Abbott is for defunding our public schools,” O’Rourke tweeted. “I'm for fully funding our kids’ classrooms and fully supporting parents, teachers, and students.”

After fifty years of access to safe and legal abortions, the Supreme Court seems poised to strike down Roe v. Wade, in a major blow to reproductive rights for millions of Americans. Republicans don’t plan to stop there, however. In an incredibly reprehensible and disgustingly cruel move, Texas GOP Governor Greg Abbott is claiming he will challenge a 1982 ruling that required free public education for all children in the United States regardless of immigration status.

Link to tweet

.....I often wonder how people like Greg Abbott reconcile the loving teachings of Jesus Christ with their hateful worldview. Does anyone believe that Jesus Christ would approve of denying children an education because of their immigration status? How anyone goes to sleep at night while working to do that is beyond me.

Abbott claims that education “expenses” are too great for the state of Texas to bear when it comes to undocumented children and that denying them an education will serve as a deterrent. First of all, no it won’t, deterrence tactics to curtail immigration have never and will never work. Second, it is revealing that Republicans consistently refer to education as an expense as opposed to an investment. Educating children and giving them an opportunity to get ahead in life while contributing back to our society is not just the right thing, to do, it’s the smart thing to do in terms of building a diverse and reliable workforce, and people like Greg Abbott are too stupid to see that.

While Abbott might claim that this is about fiscal concerns, his record shows that he doesn’t care about spending a whole lot of government money when it serves his political agenda. Texas has spent billions of dollars on Abbott’s idiotic antics serving as red meat to his Republican voting base, like the Operation Lone Star stunt, which forced thousands of soldiers to the southern border to do nothing and cost taxpayers $2 billion a year. He implemented a now rescinded policy that forced commercial vehicles to undergo redundant inspections that turned up nothing and resulted in $4 billion in losses to the Texas economy.

Republicans like Greg Abbott don’t really care about Christianity, fiscal responsibility, small government, or any sort of coherent ideology. They only care about themselves and their own political gain. They have nothing to offer the public in terms of an actual political agenda that will better their lives or material conditions, so they demagogue and try to pit working-class communities against each other. They will stoop so low as to try and deny children an education. When you think they can’t go lower, they find a way.