College students who are not citizens of the United States are not eligible for taxpayer-funded relief in the CARES Act stimulus package approved by Congress last month, according to the U.S. Department of Education.

“The CARES Act makes clear that this taxpayer-funded relief fund should be targeted to U.S. Citizens, which is consistently echoed throughout the law,” DOE spokeswoman Angela Morabito told Inside Higher Ed.

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The $2.2 trillion stimulus includes $12 billion for higher education funding, split in half between money to the institutions themselves and half to students through emergency grants to help cover costs associated with the coronavirus, such as travel costs home, computers for online courses, and other expenses.

Inside Higher Ed reports:

In making $6.2 billion available to institutions for the emergency grants two weeks ago, U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos had said she largely would leave it up to institutions to decide who’d get help.

But after colleges said they were confused about how the money could be used, the department released a question-and-answer sheet to try to add clarity. In the letter the department said the grants could only go to students who are eligible for federal aid under Title IV of the Higher Education Act. That excludes those brought to the U.S. illegally as children, who were given the right to live and work in the country lawfully under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.

Democrats are deriding the decision as “cruel” and they’re directing their anger at DeVos.

“This is downright cruel,” Sen. Kamala Harris posted to Twitter, according to Newsweek. “Betsy DeVos proves once again she’s unfit to serve all our nation’s students.”

“Immigrants are many of the frontline workers, putting their lives at risk every day to keep the rest of us safe,” California Congresswoman Barbara Lee tweeted. “Betsy DeVos blocking DACA students from receiving federal funding is dangerous and wrong.”

There are nearly 700,000 recipients of the federal Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program created by President Obama that allows illegal immigrants who came to the U.S. as children to remain in the country to pursue their education.

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Those students are not eligible for federal financial aid because they are not U.S. citizens, so many like Arizona State University student Denis Alvarez weren’t surprised by the eligibility requirements for the stimulus money, USA Today reports.

President Trump moved to end the DACA program, but Texas and California challenged the decision to the Supreme Court.

“I’m not surprised to have been left out of this because we have been left out of so many things already,” Alvarez said.

Advocates for illegal immigrant students at United We Dream Network and elsewhere are livid over the federal guidance.

“Immigrants play an essential role in our society, and now they serve as front-line workers responding to COVID-19,” United We Dream advocacy director Sanaa Abrar told Inside Higher Ed. “Yet immigrants have been largely left out of COVID-19 relief efforts.”

“They should have been eligible to receive these funds despite immigration status,” Miriam Feldblum, executive director of the Presidents’ Alliance on Higher Education, told USA Today.