Betsy DeVos illegally seized student loan borrowers' wages during pandemic: lawsuit

A new lawsuit is accusing Trump Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos of illegally seizing wages from student loan borrowers, despite the fact that there is supposed to be a freeze on student loan payments.

Politico reports that a woman from upstate New York this week filed a lawsuit on behalf of nearly 300,000 borrowers who say that the Department of Education has continued swiping money from their paychecks even during the COVID-19 pandemic.

"DeVos first announced in March that she would take administrative action to automatically stop the Education Department from seizing the wages -- and tax refunds -- of defaulted student loan borrowers for at least two months," Politico writes. "Congress then included that policy in the CARES Act and extended it, prohibiting the Education Department from garnishing wages or tax refunds through Sept. 30."

Department officials tell Politico that they plan to refund the garnished wages of student loan borrowers, although they have not provided any timeline for doing so.

Persis Yu, who directs the National Consumer Law Center’s Student Loan Borrower Assistance Project, tells Politico that it is not acceptable to wait months before returning the garnished wages at a time when so many are going through economic hardship.

"We’re in a national crisis right now, and borrowers need that money right now, and Congress passed a law that said borrowers should keep that money right now," she said.