[Congressional Bills 113th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1990 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

113th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 1990

 To prohibit aliens who are not lawfully present 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 SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                            February 4, 2014

  Mr. Vitter introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
               referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To prohibit aliens who are not lawfully present in the United States 
 from being eligible for postsecondary education benefits that are not 
     available to all citizens and nationals of the United States.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. PROHIBITION OF PREFERENTIAL TREATMENT FOR ILLEGAL ALIENS.

    Section 505 of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant 
Responsibility Act of 1996 (8 U.S.C. 1623) is amended to read as 
follows:

``SEC. 505. INELIGIBILITY FOR ALIENS NOT LAWFULLY PRESENT IN THE UNITED 
              STATES TO RECEIVE PREFERENTIAL POSTSECONDARY EDUCATION 
              BENEFITS.

    ``(a) In General.--An alien who is not lawfully present in the 
United States shall not be eligible for any postsecondary education 
benefit unless every citizen and national of the United States is 
eligible to receive such a benefit (in no less an amount, duration, and 
scope).
    ``(b) Enforcement Through Civil Action.--
            ``(1) In general.--Any citizen or national of the United 
        States who is enrolled at a postsecondary educational 
        institution in the United States that is alleged to have 
        violated subsection (a) may petition the district court of the 
        United States in which such institution is located to enforce 
        the restriction described in such subsection by commencing a 
        civil action, on his or her own behalf, in such court against 
        any State official that oversees such institution.
            ``(2) Relief.--If the plaintiff in a civil action commenced 
        under paragraph (1) proves by a preponderance of the evidence 
        that the postsecondary educational institution in which the 
        plaintiff was enrolled violated subsection (a), the court 
        shall--
                    ``(A) provide all appropriate relief to the 
                plaintiff, including damages equal to the monetary 
                value of any benefit provided to an alien who is not 
                lawfully present in the United States that was denied 
                to the plaintiff; and
                    ``(B) award attorneys' fees and court costs to the 
                plaintiff.''.
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