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Congressmen and leaders representing Latino organizations on Friday strongly criticized the Supreme Court ruling that blocked President Joe Biden’s plan to waive student debt of millions of university students, because Latinos and people of other minorities in the United States will be the most affected.
In a decision by the court’s conservative majority, and opposed by all three progressive justices, the court found that the Biden Administration had no right to approve the cancellation of part of the student loans.
The League of United Latino American Citizens (LULAC), the largest and oldest Latino organization in the country, was “incredulous” of the decision, noting that between 2004 and 2016 individual student debt increased by 60% with an average of $15,797 dollars.
“After starting to make payments, 36% of Latinos will end up owing more than they originally did after starting college twelve years earlier,” LULAC explained.
Among Latino college students who started college after 2012, more than half (51%) borrowed funds to pay for their college or graduate education, LULAC noted.
He stressed that in 2021, 18% of Latino borrowers reported being behind on their student loan debt compared to 9% of white borrowers.
New Mexico Congressman Gabe Vasquez said the ruling “will disproportionately affect students of color” and explained on Twitter that most Latinos owe 83% of their initial student loan 12 years after finishing school. university students
For his part, California Democratic Sen. Alex Padilla said he was “frustrated and disappointed” and called Biden’s federal forgiveness plan “one of the largest efforts to close the racial equity gap in US history.”
California Congressman Jimmy Gomez stressed that students are saddled with loans for decades, just like himself.
The Democrat says he graduated in 2003 and is still $44,000 in debt. “Although I am able to pay, many are not. And this is about them,” he said.
In this sense, the director of the Latino Victory Project, Sindy Benavides, said in a statement that “Latinos, like all Americans, deserve to achieve their dreams without having to put their future on hold.”
Seven in ten Latinos nationwide cite financial hardship as an obstacle to earning a bachelor’s degreeaccording to data from Latino Victory.
“It is a heartbreaking decision, one that is not taken lightly, with the understanding that Latinos and people of color will be the most affected by this ruling,” Benavides said.
María Teresa Kumar, president of the Voto Latino organization, said in a statement that the decision “entrenches inequality and allows the burden of student loan debt to disparately affect Black and Latino communities.”
In a written decision, the president of the court, John Roberts, explained that US law allows the Secretary of Education, Miguel Cardona, “to make modest adjustments and additions to existing regulations (…), not to transform them.”
After learning of the ruling, Biden promised that “the battle is not over” and announced that his administration is taking new steps to end the debt.
The Latino community receives this ruling as a new blow, one day after another Supreme Court decision eliminated the use of race as a factor in the university admissions process.
In this regard, Judge Sotomayor, who did not agree with the ruling, noted that “equal educational opportunities are an essential requirement to achieve racial equality in our nation.”
Latino groups believe that yesterday’s ruling will hinder access to higher education for historically marginalized racial and ethnic groups.
Keep reading:
– The Supreme Court blocks applying race in university admissions, an action that will impact Latinos
– Supreme Court strikes down Biden’s student debt relief plan
– Biden revealed new details about his plan B for student loan forgiveness