The District of Columbia denied a 19-year-old American student's application for financial assistance because of the immigration status of her mother. Natalie Villalobos was born and raised in the United States but her mother is not an American citizen.
Villalobos filed a federal lawsuit with the help of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund (MALDEF). She alleged that the D.C. Tuition Assistance Grant (DCTAG) did not only violate her civil rights but also discriminated against American citizens living in the U.S. legally but with immigrant parents.
"The issues are clear and alarming," MALDEF vice president of litigation Nina Perales said. "You have a U.S. citizen student who just wants the same chance that everyone else has. Legally, when we start chipping away at what it means to be a United States citizen, we undermine the core principles of our nation."
Villalobos said thousands of dollars are available for students like her who could not afford to go to College, according to The Washington Post. DCTAG's rules, however, prevented her from availing of the public aid available to most of the students in the District.
Congress created DCTAG in 1999 to provide higher education choices for students in the District of Columbia, as per OSSE. The program granted up to $10,000 per year to students enrolled in four-year public colleges, and up to $2,500 every year for those in two-year public schools.
President Donald Trump recently issued a second immigration executive order that suspended the immigration of citizens from six countries that are predominantly Muslims. The countries included in the ban were Libya, Syria, Yemen, Sudan, Somalia and Iran. Iraq was previously included in the first executive order but was removed from the list.
The new immigration order aimed to reduce the number of refugees allowed in the United States to a maximum of 50,000 in 2017, according to NBC News. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said it is part of the country's efforts to eliminate radical Islamic terrorists.
