The Trump administration said Wednesday that five universities are under investigation for potentially only granting scholarship programs to recipients of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program.
The Education Department's investigation comes in response to complaints from the Legal Insurrection Foundation's Equal Protection Project and involves the University of Louisville, the University of Miami, the University of Michigan, the University of Nebraska Omaha and Western Michigan University.
In a statement, Acting Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Craig Trainor said that neither the Trump administration's policies nor the national origin discrimination prohibition contained in the Civil Rights Act of 1964 "permit universities to deny our fellow citizens the opportunity to compete for scholarships because they were born in the United States."
"As we mark President Trump's historic six months back in the White House, we are expanding our enforcement efforts to protect American students and lawful residents from invidious national origin discrimination of the kind alleged here," Trainor said Wednesday.
In a statement of his own, William A. Jacobson, founder of the Equal Protection Project, said the organization was "gratified" to see the Education Department's Office for Civil Rights acting on its complaints.
"Protecting equal access to education includes protecting the rights of American-born students," Jacobson said. "Discrimination against American-born students must not be tolerated."
Created under former President Barack Obama, DACA allows individuals who entered the United States illegally as children with their parents prior to June 15, 2012, to be granted a two-year period of deferred deportation, which can be renewed.
According to the Education Department, the probe will also examine scholarships that seemingly exclude students based on race or skin color.
Wednesday's announcement is the latest salvo in the long-running battle between the Trump administration and higher education.
The Office for Civil Rights clawed back federal funds from Columbia University and Harvard University earlier this year over what the Education Department has alleged are cultures of rampant antisemitism on their campuses.
Operating under the premise of safety in numbers, several Big Ten schools reportedly banded together in the wake of the funding freeze to create a "mutual defense compact" to resist the Trump administration's efforts to enact policy changes and withdraw federal funding.
Nicole Weatherholtz ✉
Nicole Weatherholtz, a Newsmax general assignment reporter covers news, politics, and culture. She is a National Newspaper Association award-winning journalist.
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