[Wsssc] {Disarmed} FW: Judge blocks DeVos effort to deny coronavirus relief to undocumented college students

[Joe Holliday]

WSSSC: in case you didn’t see this…

From: Wilson, Morgan (GOV) <Morgan.Wilson at gov.wa.gov<mailto:Morgan.Wilson at gov.wa.gov>>
Sent: Wednesday, June 17, 2020 9:40 AM
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Cc: Katims, Casey (GOV) <casey.katims at gov.wa.gov<mailto:casey.katims at gov.wa.gov>>; Potter, Geoff (GOV) <Geoff.Potter at gov.wa.gov<mailto:Geoff.Potter at gov.wa.gov>>
Subject: FW: Judge blocks DeVos effort to deny coronavirus relief to undocumented college students

More good  on this challenge – but in this case only applicable to California community colleges.



Judge blocks DeVos effort to deny coronavirus relief to undocumented college students

By Michael Stratford

06/17/2020 12:02 PM EDT

A federal judge ordered Education Secretary Betsy DeVos to stop denying emergency coronavirus relief to hundreds of thousands of California community college students who are undocumented or don’t qualify for federal financial aid.

U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers on Wednesday blocked<https://www.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.cand.359334/gov.uscourts.cand.359334.44.0.pdf?source=email> DeVos from enforcing her policies that restrict CARES Act funding only to students who are eligible for federal financial aid. DeVos' policies bar undocumented students, international students and U.S. citizens who don't qualify for financial aid from receiving the grants, which are meant to help students cover expenses like housing and food.

The preliminary injunction applies only to students attending California community colleges, which had brought the legal challenge. It blocks DeVos and the Education Department from “imposing or enforcing any eligibility requirement for students to receive” emergency cash grants under the CARES Act.

Rogers ruled that California was likely to prevail on its claim that DeVos illegally added restrictions to the CARES Act funding that were not authorized by Congress, which did not explicitly include any prohibitions on which students could receive relief.

The ruling in California comes after a similar decision by a federal judge last week to block DeVos’ restrictions on the funding for colleges in Washington state. That ruling left open the possibility that the Education Department could continue to deny aid to undocumented students under a separate law.

But Judge Rogers’ ruling goes further in rejecting the DeVos’ argument that a 1996 federal law that includes a broad ban on undocumented individuals receiving public benefits also applies to the CARES Act funding.

Rogers wrote said that California had “argued persuasively” that law, which was part of so-called “welfare reform,” didn’t apply to the CARES Act funding. The judge added that she was “not persuaded” that DeVos’ decision to apply that law to the CARES Act “would be lawful.”

Education Department spokesperson Angela Morabito said the agency would appeal. “Two federal judges in the same circuit are split on this issue, and we fully expect to prevail on appeal,” she said.

California officials previously estimated that more than half of the 1.5 million students enrolled in the state’s community colleges this spring were excluded from the emergency aid because of DeVos’ policy. About 70,000 are undocumented students, while hundreds of thousands of others include Temporary Protected Status recipients, asylum applicants and U.S. citizens who are not eligible for federal financial aid.


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