“Public Service Loan Forgiveness was created as a promise to teachers, nurses, firefighters, and social workers that their service to our communities would be honored,” said New York Attorney General Letitia James.
“Instead, this administration has created a political loyalty test disguised as a regulation. It is unjust and unlawful to cut off loan forgiveness for hardworking Americans based on ideology. I will not let our federal government punish New York’s public servants for doing their jobs or standing up for our values,” she added.
The suit stems from a rule change last week by the Trump administration which states that anyone engaged in so-called “unlawful activities” will be ineligible for relief under the PSLF program. The program provides relief to government workers or nonprofit employees by forgiving their loans after 10 years of payments.
The administration has defined “unlawful activities” as “abetting illegal immigration” or supporting gender transition for minors. Of course, it’s unlikely to end there. “Unlawful activities” are increasingly being defined by this president as anything that he disagrees with politically. His ultimate goal is to punish everyone who refuses to mark lockstep with the MAGA agenda.
In their lawsuit, the states argue that the rule will be used disproportionately to target Trump’s political enemies. They suggest that it will be exploited to go after “teachers in states with inclusive curricula, health professionals providing gender-affirming care, or legal aid attorneys representing immigrants, could suddenly lose PSLF eligibility through no fault of their own.”
The states involved in the suit are Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, Wisconsin, as well as D.C.
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