Student debt relief activists march in June 2023 near the U.S. Capitol in Washington D.C. This week, a pair of federal judges blocked Trump administration changes to a student loan forgiveness program that detractors say would have made it into an ideological “loyalty test.” File Photo by Ken Cedeno/UPI | License Photo
Decisions by two federal judges have blocked the federal government from attaching new restrictions to a student loan forgiveness program for public servants.
The changes would have blocked workers from the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program (which cancels some of the education debt of government and nonprofit employees after 10 years of employment) if the Trump administration deemed their employers to be engaged in activities with “a substantial illegal purpose,” The Hill reported.
The Education Department would decide what these activities are — and detractors said it would allow the department to target organizations that support causes such as immigration advocacy or health care for transgender people or those that support diversity, equity and inclusion programs.
The new rules were supposed to go into effect July 1. Judges in two separate cases, one in Massachusetts and one in Washington, D.C., struck them down Tuesday.
U.S. District Judge Myong J. Joun in Massachusetts ruled in favor of a group of states, cities, unions and nonprofits that challenged the changes, saying that the Education Department “cannot create new criminal prohibitions through rulemaking.”
Joun said the changes violate the First Amendment and were “arbitrary and capricious,” The Washington Post reported.
“Indeed, the record further demonstrates that the final rule has already chilled protected speech,” he said.
In an executive order last year, President Donald Trump told the secretary of education to narrow eligibility for the program and exclude groups.
The department’s final rule found those groups to be those it defines as supporting illegal immigration, terrorism and trafficking and aiding what it called “the chemical and surgical castration or mutilation of children,” which is how the administration has referred to health care supporting transgender people.
Separately, U.S. District Judge Amir Ali in Washington, D.C., struck down the rules in a suit brought by nonprofits that work for immigration rights and other issues.
Under Secretary of Education Nicholas Kent said that the department stands behind its “commonsense policy,” The Hill reported.
“The Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program is intended to support Americans who serve the public good, not to subsidize organizations that engage in terrorism, facilitate illegal immigration or support the mutilation of children,” he said.
N.Y. Attorney General Letitia James, who led the coalition that challenged the new rules, said the rules amounted to a “political loyalty test” that could weaponize the loan forgiveness program.
“This rule was a blatant attempt to punish teachers, nurses, firefighters, social workers and other public servants for working in states or for organizations that this administration does not like,” she said.
PSLF was signed into law in 2007 by President George W. Bush.
