As part of his effort to punish immigrants – both legal and undocumented – for his own failures, Donald Trump is blocking undocumented college students from receiving any emergency aid as part of the coronavirus rescue package.
According to The Hill, “The Trump administration issued new guidance Tuesday barring undocumented college students from receiving federal aid to pay off certain expenses.”
The report notes that the money was allocated to help students pay for food, housing and childcare during the pandemic.
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Congress allocated $6 billion in its economic rescue package to colleges to grant to students to cover expenses related to interruptions fueled by the coronavirus pandemic. The money is intended to help students pay for expenses such as food, childcare and housing.
However, the Education Department issued new guidance mandating that the money can only be given to students who qualify for federal financial aid, meaning U.S. citizens and some legal permanent residents.
While Congress’s package contains no language regarding undocumented students, the Education Department’s guidance essentially prevents them from receiving any of the allocated funds.
Trump is desperate to find a scapegoat
As the coronavirus crisis continues to wreak havoc across the country, causing tens of thousands of deaths, Donald Trump has been cycling through scapegoats – from the media to the Obama administration to the World Health Organization to governors – and none of them have stuck.
The American people seem to be recognizing that it wasn’t a good idea to put an unqualified, self-obsessed game show host in charge of the most powerful country in the world – especially in the middle of a global health crisis.
Trump’s sudden shift back toward anti-immigrant messaging is basically an admission that he knows he’s in serious political trouble. After all, whenever this president finds himself in a corner, he reaches back into the well of minority resentment that fires up his base.
The problem with that strategy right now is that tens of thousands of Americans have died and more than 20 million have lost their jobs over the past month because of Donald Trump’s incompetence.
Immigrant bashing might make the most die-hard Fox viewer feel warm and fuzzy inside, but it can’t undo the damage that this president has already done to so many Americans.
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Sean Colarossi currently resides in Cleveland, Ohio. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and was an organizing fellow for both of President Obama’s presidential campaigns. He also worked with Planned Parenthood as an Affordable Care Act Outreach Organizer in 2014, helping northeast Ohio residents obtain health insurance coverage.
