5 universities in the dock regarding scholarship to illegal students

The US Department of Education has initiated civil rights probes into five universities to see if scholarship schemes targeted at illegal immigrants are discriminatorily excluding American-born students.

The probe, conducted by the Department's Office of Civil Rights (OCR), aims at University of Louisville, University of Nebraska Omaha, University of Miami, University of Michigan, and Western Michigan University. In the middle of the probes are scholarships that supposedly hold spots for DACA program recipients or other unauthorized students, as per a press release.

The Legal Insurrection Foundation's Equal Protection Project brought the complaints resulting in the requests. The group contends that issuing scholarships based on immigration status alone — specifically, those excluding US citizens — is discriminatory against national origin under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits national origin discrimination by programs receiving federal funding.

Craig Trainor, Acting Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights, tied the action to larger administration priorities: "On January 21, 2025, President Trump made the commitment that 'every single day of the Trump Administration, (he) will, very simply, put America first,'"

Trainor explained. "As we commemorate President Trump's record six months in the White House, we are redoubling our efforts at enforcement to safeguard American students and law-abiding residents from invidious national origin discrimination of the sort complained of here."

The OCR will also look into whether race or color was a factor in the requirement levels of other university scholarships, which might contravene other provisions of Title VI.

William A. Jacobson, creator of the Equal Protection Project, summed it up this way: "Discrimination against American-born students cannot be tolerated," he said. "Maintaining equal access to education means maintaining rights of American-born students. At the Equal Protection Project, we are heartened that the Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights is acting on our complaints regarding scholarships discriminating against American-born students."