Does the Stimulus Package Really Exclude DACA Students?
U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos says she had no choice but to exclude DACA students from the stimulus package's emergency aid. But Democrats in Congress argue that's untrue.
In The News Piece in Inside Higher Ed
Gage Skidmore / CC2.0
May 4, 2020
Clare McCann was quoted in Inside Higher Ed about Secretary Betsy DeVos's decision to exclude DACA students from the stimulus package's emergency aid.
Several critics of DeVos’s decision also dispute the assertion that Congress required the department to exclude DACA students, and the department's interpretation of Congress's intent was meant to exclude the undocumented students without openly saying so. But in doing so, DeVos also excluded other students who do not qualify for student aid for reasons like having bad grades or having defaulted on student loans.
“Bottom line, I think the department is basically gaslighting everyone into thinking they read something in the law to support this decision,” said Clare McCann, New America’s deputy director for federal policy. “In reality they created student eligibility restrictions as a way to ensure undocumented and international students wouldn't be getting the money.”
Read the full article here.