Representative Jim Banks is introducing legislation called the American Students First Act to prevent President Biden’s Department of Education from expanding federal TRIO college preparation programs to illegal immigrants.
The TRIO programs are intended to help low-income American students and green card holders prepare for college.
Banks argued it is un-American to use taxpayer funds meant for American farmers and truckers to instead pay for illegal immigrants’ college prep classes, while American students’ test scores are at record lows following school lockdowns during the pandemic.
“It’s disgusting and un-American that the Biden administration wants to use tax dollars from truckers and farmers to fund college prep classes for illegal immigrants,” Banks said. “All the while, our test scores are at a record low.”
He wants the administration to prioritize addressing learning loss among American students rather than prepping undocumented immigrants for college.
“The Department proposes to expand participation in several TRIO programs to more students from disadvantaged backgrounds to align with the goals of the statute … limitations in the current regulation do not allow for TRIO programs to reach all students in the geographic areas for whom the programs were meant to serve,” the proposal reads.
“Rather than prepping illegals for college, the Biden administration should focus on undoing the unprecedented learning loss that happened during their school lockdowns,” Banks said.
