DeVos Can Exclude DREAMers, Non-Citizens from CARES Act Relief – Bloomberg Law
- CARES Act doesn’t say DREAMers, non-citizens eligible
- PRWORA limits eligibility for federally-funded grants
U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos may continue enforcing a rule excluding DREAMers and other non-citizens from eligibility for certain grants under the CARES Act’s education stabilization fund, according to a federal court ruling.
The CARES Act doesn’t demonstrate a clear and manifest intent to override restrictions on the distribution of benefits under the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Washington said.
Judge Thomas O. Rice’s Friday order denied Washington’s motion for partial summary judgment, concluding that PRWORA acted as an independent statutory restriction on how the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act’s Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund is distributed to students.
Washington sought and was granted injunctive relief prohibiting DeVos from enforcing the rule in June, but the injunction extends only to the applicability of Title IV eligibility requirements—not to restrictions imposed by other federal laws like PRWORA that may limit student eligibility for CARES Act relief.