Mitzie Perez and the California League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) [advocacy website] on Monday filed a lawsuit [complaint, PDF] against Wells Fargo alleging that the bank refused to extend Perez and other similarly situated students loans solely because of their immigration status. Perez is a junior at the University of California, Riverside, and is one of many undocumented immigrants, or “Dreamers,” allowed to remain in the US under Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) [official website]. The suit seeks a court order requiring Wells Fargo to amend its student loan policies, as well as monetary damages for undocumented immigrants who were denied loans by Wells Fargo because of their immigration status.

DACA has been a contentious issue in recent weeks. A Georgia state court refused [JURIST report] this month to back down from its earlier ruling granting in-state tuition to Georgia university students protected by DACA. Also in January the US House of Representatives [official website] passed a funding bill [JURIST report] that included amendments designed to repeal key elements of DACA. A collection of mayors from major US cities, including Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, warned [JURIST report] then president-elect Donald Trump in December about potential negative economic consequences of repealing DACA.