The Trump administration will return several education grants it revoked in July for allegedly funding illegal immigrants and other “radical leftwing” priorities, the Daily Caller News Foundation has learned.
The grants, used to fund several after-school and adult education programs, including a program specifically for migrant education, were meant to be released to states and schools on July 1 but were halted by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) on June 30. On July 14, 24 states and the District of Columbia filed a lawsuit against the administration to return the nearly $7 billion in federal funding. (RELATED: EXCLUSIVE: Trump’s Education Dept Ends Free Tuition For Illegals)
“OMB has completed its review of Title I-C, Title II-A, Title III-A, and Title IV-A ESEA funds and Title II WIOA funds, and has directed the Department to release all formula funds,” Madi Biedermann, deputy assistant secretary for communications at the Department of Education (ED), told the DCNF. “The agency will begin dispersing funds to states next week.”
Demonstrators including students from local high schools as well as a college rally in front of Homestead City Hall against President-elect Donald Trump and are asking that the city be used as a sanctuary city and their respective schools be sanctuary campuses on November 16, 2016 in Homestead, Florida. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
When announcing the withheld funding, the Trump administration reportedly said it was reviewing whether or not to cancel the grants entirely after it found several states were specifically funneling the money towards organizations that advocate for illegal immigrants or were allowing illegals to access scholarships that were “intended for American students.” OMB also accused the funds of being used to fuel “a radical leftwing agenda.”
Title I-C of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), known as the Migrant Education Program, is meant “to ensure that all migratory children reach challenging academic standards and graduate with a high school diploma (or complete a HSED) that prepares them for responsible citizenship, further learning, and productive employment,” according to ED. Title III-A grants meanwhile are meant to provide “enhanced instructional opportunities for immigrant children and youth” to learn English.
The Trump administration in recent months has been aiming at states and schools that provide special benefits to illegal immigrants in the education space. The Department of Justice (DOJ) has sued multiple states that allow illegals to qualify for in-state tuition prices at universities, and the Education Department (ED) opened investigations into universities allegedly providing scholarships specifically for students in the country illegally.
On July 10, the DCNF was informed exclusively that ED was revoking a Clinton-era rule that allowed illegal immigrants to access taxpayer funds for technical and career schools.
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