To prohibit an alien who is not in a lawful immigration status in the United States from being eligible for postsecondary education benefits that are not available to all citizens and nationals of the United States.

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 1190 To prohibit an alien who is not in a lawful immigration status in the United States from being eligible for postsecondary education benefits that are not available to all citizens and nationals of the United States. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES FEBRUARY 13, 2019 Mr. GOSAR (for himself, Mr. MEADOWS, Mr. WEBER of Texas, Mr. BIGGS, Mr. KING of Iowa, Mr. DESJARLAIS, Mr. DUNCAN, and Mr. BABIN) in- troduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, and in addition to the Committee on Education and Labor, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the com- mittee concerned A BILL To prohibit an alien who is not in a lawful immigration status in the United States from being eligible for post- secondary education benefits that are not available to all citizens and nationals of the United States. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:15 Feb 26, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1190.IH H1190 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 1190 IH SECTION 1. PROHIBITION OF PREFERENTIAL TREATMENT 1 FOR ILLEGAL ALIENS. 2 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 505 of the Illegal Immi- 3 gration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 4 (8 U.S.C. 1623) is amended to read as follows: 5 ‘‘SEC. 505. INELIGIBILITY FOR ALIENS NOT IN LAWFUL IM- 6 MIGRATION STATUS IN THE UNITED STATES 7 TO RECEIVE PREFERENTIAL POSTSEC- 8 ONDARY EDUCATION BENEFITS. 9 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—An alien who is not in a lawful 10 immigration status in the United States shall not be eligi- 11 ble for any postsecondary education benefit unless every 12 citizen and national of the United States is eligible to re- 13 ceive such a benefit (in no less an amount, duration, and 14 scope). 15 ‘‘(b) ENFORCEMENT THROUGH CIVIL ACTION.— 16 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Any citizen or national of 17 the United States who is enrolled at a postsecondary 18 educational institution in the United States that is 19 alleged to have violated subsection (a) may petition 20 the district court of the United States in which such 21 institution is located to enforce the restriction de- 22 scribed in such subsection by commencing a civil ac- 23 tion, on his or her own behalf, in such court against 24 any State official that oversees such institution. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:15 Feb 26, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1190.IH H1190 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 1190 IH ‘‘(2) RELIEF.—If the plaintiff in a civil action 1 commenced under paragraph (1) proves by a prepon- 2 derance of the evidence that the postsecondary edu- 3 cational institution in which the plaintiff was en- 4 rolled violated subsection (a), the court shall— 5 ‘‘(A) provide all appropriate relief to the 6 plaintiff, including damages equal to the mone- 7 tary value of any benefit provided to an alien 8 who is not in a lawful immigration status in the 9 United States that was denied to the plaintiff; 10 and 11 ‘‘(B) award attorneys’ fees and court costs 12 to the plaintiff.’’. 13 (b) TABLE OF CONTENTS AMENDMENT.—The table 14 of contents in section 1(d) of the Illegal Immigration Re- 15 form and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 (110 Stat. 16 3009–546) is amended by striking the item relating to sec- 17 tion 505 and inserting the following: 18 ‘‘Sec. 505. Ineligibility for aliens not in lawful immigration status in the United States to receive preferential postsecondary education bene- fits.’’. Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:15 Feb 26, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H1190.IH H1190 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS