California judge blocks Betsy DeVos from withholding relief money from undocumented students – The Washington Post
A federal judge on Wednesday blocked an attempt by Education Secretary Betsy DeVos to keep undocumented and other college students from receiving pandemic relief grants, the second judge in the past week to stop the regulation from taking effect.
U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers imposed a preliminary injunction in California preventing the Education Department from restricting emergency grants only to college students who qualify for federal financial aid. The ruling arrives days after U.S. District Judge Thomas O. Rice took similar action in a case involving the state of Washington.
Both orders only apply to schools in those states, but they cast doubt on the future of a policy that higher education leaders have denounced as cruel and ill-conceived.
The rulings are rooted in the Trump administration’s handling of more than $6 billion in emergency grant aid set aside for college students in the stimulus package passed by Congress. The Cares Act directed colleges and universities to dole out emergency grants to students to pay for expenses such as rent, child care, technology and groceries in light of disruption caused by the novel coronavirus.