{"id":136181,"date":"2025-11-01T17:19:31","date_gmt":"2025-11-02T01:19:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2025\/11\/01\/new-trump-rule-declares-most-public-service-work-illegal-ineligible-for-loan-forgiveness\/"},"modified":"2025-11-01T17:19:31","modified_gmt":"2025-11-02T01:19:31","slug":"new-trump-rule-declares-most-public-service-work-illegal-ineligible-for-loan-forgiveness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2025\/11\/01\/new-trump-rule-declares-most-public-service-work-illegal-ineligible-for-loan-forgiveness\/","title":{"rendered":"New Trump Rule Declares Most Public Service Work \u2018Illegal,\u2019 Ineligible For Loan Forgiveness"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you weren\u2019t already super psyched for the Big Beautiful Bill borrowing caps making law school unaffordable for many<\/a>, get ready to learn that most lawyerly public service is no longer getting loan forgiveness. Because public service itself is going to \u201cillegal.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Trump administration\u2019s ongoing war on the legal profession continues with the Department of Education releasing its finalized Public Service Loan Forgiveness rule<\/a> \u2014 a process kicked off in March when Trump issued his Restoring Public Service Loan Forgiveness<\/em><\/a> Executive Order \u2014\u00a0and while its impact will be felt across education, the new rule is especially brutal for law school graduates, with the DOE cutting off forgiveness to those causes it deems to be supporting \u201cillegal activity.\u201d And, if you hadn\u2019t already guessed what it means to support \u201cillegal\u201d activity in this regime, they mean jobs like \u201crepresenting immigrants\u201d and \u201cadvocating for transgender rights.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cTaxpayer funds should never directly or indirectly subsidize illegal activity,\u201d Under Secretary of Education Nicholas Kent said, a reasonable premise if directed at graduates aspiring to become a mob consigliere. As it happens, that\u2019s not the sort of \u201cillegal activity\u201d Kent\u2019s talking about. \u201cThe Public Service Loan Forgiveness program was meant to support Americans who dedicate their careers to public service \u2013 not to subsidize organizations that violate the law, whether by harboring illegal immigrants or performing prohibited medical procedures that attempt to transition children away from their biological sex.\u201d<\/p>\n

By this, he means representing<\/em> people in immigration proceedings. His remark about transgender care is directed at medical school grads, but the language of the final rule would cover any organization that provides legal aid to trans folks. The final rule knocked down objections that giving the Education Secretary unilateral authority to decide if a public service is \u201cillegal\u201d would be unconstitutionally vague. By the DOE\u2019s account, the definition is clear. <\/p>\n

Behold\u2026 the definition:<\/p>\n

\n

(i) aiding or abetting violations of 8 U.S.C. 1325<\/a> or other Federal immigration laws;
(ii) Supporting terrorism, including by facilitating funding to, or the operations of, cartels designated as Foreign Terrorist Organizations consistent with 8 U.S.C. 1189<\/a>, or by engaging in violence for the purpose of obstructing or influencing Federal Government policy;
(iii) Engaging in the chemical and surgical castration or mutilation of children in violation of Federal or State law;
(iv) Engaging in the trafficking of children to another State for purposes of emancipation from their lawful parents in violation of Federal or State law;
(v) Engaging in a pattern of aiding and abetting illegal discrimination; or
(vi) Engaging in a pattern of violating State laws as defined in paragraph (b)(34) of this section.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

There\u2019s no such thing as a public service coyote operation, so that first prong is being read \u2014 fairly \u2014 as an exclusion aimed at organizations providing services to migrants \u2014 which would appear to include representing migrants. Advocating for asylum is certainly going to be tagged as \u201caiding and abetting.\u201d Working for al Qaeda was never eligible public service work, but the new rule is designed to expand the exclusion to groups that the administration decides to call terrorists or cartel members. Since this administration plans to designate \u201cAntifa\u201d as a terror organization<\/a> and can\u2019t figure out who actually belongs to a cartel<\/a>, this \u2014 along with section (vi), which lists charges often (fairly and unfairly) tacked onto protests \u2014 is primed as a catch-all to exclude any groups that represent people taking direct action. The \u201cillegal discrimination\u201d language, as we\u2019ve seen with the administration\u2019s assault on universities, is meant as a cudgel for any group with a diversity plan \u2014 that\u2019s going to knock out pretty much any public service organization that isn\u2019t already covered by the rest of the definition.<\/p>\n

As one would expect, the Department responds with feigned shock and disbelief to the idea that this rule is a rubber band designed to entangle any group the administration considers woke. <\/p>\n

Business Insider notes<\/a> that no one\u2019s buying that:<\/p>\n

\n

Advocates for student-loan borrowers criticized the final rule and plan to take legal action. In a joint statement, advocacy groups Democracy Forward and Protect Borrowers said the rule \u201cis a direct and unlawful attack on nurses, teachers, first responders, and public service workers across the country.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The worst part of this rotten rule is that it\u2019s designed to punish those who are already underwater. Lawyers who already made choices, took jobs, or even moved cities, are now going to get their forgiveness cut off because representing the accused now counts as aiding and abetting illegal activity. Because kneecapping the institutions protecting the powerless is a key pillar of the administration\u2019s philosophy. Undermining the rule of law is a lot easier when no one\u2019s left to defend it.<\/p>\n

\n

\"Headshot\"Joe Patrice<\/a>\u00a0is a senior editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer<\/a>. Feel free to\u00a0email<\/a> any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on\u00a0Twitter<\/a>\u00a0or Bluesky<\/a> if you\u2019re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news. Joe also serves as a Managing Director at RPN Executive Search<\/a>.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The post New Trump Rule Declares Most Public Service Work \u2018Illegal,\u2019 Ineligible For Loan Forgiveness<\/a> appeared first on Above the Law<\/a>.<\/p>\n

If you weren\u2019t already super psyched for the Big Beautiful Bill borrowing caps making law school unaffordable for many<\/a>, get ready to learn that most lawyerly public service is no longer getting loan forgiveness. Because public service itself is going to \u201cillegal.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Trump administration\u2019s ongoing war on the legal profession continues with the Department of Education releasing its finalized Public Service Loan Forgiveness rule<\/a> \u2014 a process kicked off in March when Trump issued his Restoring Public Service Loan Forgiveness<\/em><\/a> Executive Order \u2014\u00a0and while its impact will be felt across education, the new rule is especially brutal for law school graduates, with the DOE cutting off forgiveness to those causes it deems to be supporting \u201cillegal activity.\u201d And, if you hadn\u2019t already guessed what it means to support \u201cillegal\u201d activity in this regime, they mean jobs like \u201crepresenting immigrants\u201d and \u201cadvocating for transgender rights.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cTaxpayer funds should never directly or indirectly subsidize illegal activity,\u201d Under Secretary of Education Nicholas Kent said, a reasonable premise if directed at graduates aspiring to become a mob consigliere. As it happens, that\u2019s not the sort of \u201cillegal activity\u201d Kent\u2019s talking about. \u201cThe Public Service Loan Forgiveness program was meant to support Americans who dedicate their careers to public service \u2013 not to subsidize organizations that violate the law, whether by harboring illegal immigrants or performing prohibited medical procedures that attempt to transition children away from their biological sex.\u201d<\/p>\n

By this, he means representing<\/em> people in immigration proceedings. His remark about transgender care is directed at medical school grads, but the language of the final rule would cover any organization that provides legal aid to trans folks. The final rule knocked down objections that giving the Education Secretary unilateral authority to decide if a public service is \u201cillegal\u201d would be unconstitutionally vague. By the DOE\u2019s account, the definition is clear. <\/p>\n

Behold\u2026 the definition:<\/p>\n

\n

(i) aiding or abetting violations of 8 U.S.C. 1325<\/a> or other Federal immigration laws;
(ii) Supporting terrorism, including by facilitating funding to, or the operations of, cartels designated as Foreign Terrorist Organizations consistent with 8 U.S.C. 1189<\/a>, or by engaging in violence for the purpose of obstructing or influencing Federal Government policy;
(iii) Engaging in the chemical and surgical castration or mutilation of children in violation of Federal or State law;
(iv) Engaging in the trafficking of children to another State for purposes of emancipation from their lawful parents in violation of Federal or State law;
(v) Engaging in a pattern of aiding and abetting illegal discrimination; or
(vi) Engaging in a pattern of violating State laws as defined in paragraph (b)(34) of this section.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

There\u2019s no such thing as a public service coyote operation, so that first prong is being read \u2014 fairly \u2014 as an exclusion aimed at organizations providing services to migrants \u2014 which would appear to include representing migrants. Advocating for asylum is certainly going to be tagged as \u201caiding and abetting.\u201d Working for al Qaeda was never eligible public service work, but the new rule is designed to expand the exclusion to groups that the administration decides to call terrorists or cartel members. Since this administration plans to designate \u201cAntifa\u201d as a terror organization<\/a> and can\u2019t figure out who actually belongs to a cartel<\/a>, this \u2014 along with section (vi), which lists charges often (fairly and unfairly) tacked onto protests \u2014 is primed as a catch-all to exclude any groups that represent people taking direct action. The \u201cillegal discrimination\u201d language, as we\u2019ve seen with the administration\u2019s assault on universities, is meant as a cudgel for any group with a diversity plan \u2014 that\u2019s going to knock out pretty much any public service organization that isn\u2019t already covered by the rest of the definition.<\/p>\n

As one would expect, the Department responds with feigned shock and disbelief to the idea that this rule is a rubber band designed to entangle any group the administration considers woke. <\/p>\n

Business Insider notes<\/a> that no one\u2019s buying that:<\/p>\n

\n

Advocates for student-loan borrowers criticized the final rule and plan to take legal action. In a joint statement, advocacy groups Democracy Forward and Protect Borrowers said the rule \u201cis a direct and unlawful attack on nurses, teachers, first responders, and public service workers across the country.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The worst part of this rotten rule is that it\u2019s designed to punish those who are already underwater. Lawyers who already made choices, took jobs, or even moved cities, are now going to get their forgiveness cut off because representing the accused now counts as aiding and abetting illegal activity. Because kneecapping the institutions protecting the powerless is a key pillar of the administration\u2019s philosophy. Undermining the rule of law is a lot easier when no one\u2019s left to defend it.<\/p>\n

\n

\"Headshot\"Joe Patrice<\/a>\u00a0is a senior editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer<\/a>. Feel free to\u00a0email<\/a> any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on\u00a0Twitter<\/a>\u00a0or Bluesky<\/a> if you\u2019re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news. Joe also serves as a Managing Director at RPN Executive Search<\/a>.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The post New Trump Rule Declares Most Public Service Work \u2018Illegal,\u2019 Ineligible For Loan Forgiveness<\/a> appeared first on Above the Law<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If you weren\u2019t already super psyched for the Big Beautiful Bill borrowing caps making law school unaffordable for many, get ready to learn that most lawyerly public service is no longer getting loan forgiveness. Because public service itself is going to \u201cillegal.\u201d The Trump administration\u2019s ongoing war on the legal profession continues with the Department […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":136172,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-136181","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-above_the_law"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/xira.com\/p\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Headshot-300x200-3xWupx.jpg?fit=300%2C200&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136181","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=136181"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136181\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/136172"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=136181"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=136181"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=136181"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}