The University of Chicago Law School blocked ICE from deporting a man accused of having connections to ISIS.
Now a new investigation reveals the school did it with your tax money – and so did nearly every other law school in America.
What your money is funding will make your blood boil.
How ABA Accreditation Requirements Fund Law School Immigration Clinics
The American Bar Association is the only accreditor the federal government recognizes for law schools in the United States.
It requires every law student to complete experiential learning hours before graduation – and immigration clinics satisfy that requirement perfectly.
At least 39 law schools require pro bono service as a condition of graduation, according to the ABA's own data.
A Daily Caller News Foundation review of the top ten ranked law schools in America found a deportation-defense clinic at virtually every one.
Harvard has two.
Along with its "Immigration and Refugee Clinic," Harvard runs a program called the "Crimmigration Clinic" – where students work the overlap between criminal law and immigration law, representing clients directly against federal enforcement.
Columbia's clinic has law students offer pro bono legal services to asylum seekers and take on direct client representation for people facing deportation.
Yale. NYU. Virginia. Stanford. Berkeley.
Every name-brand institution. Every federal dollar.
University of Chicago Law Clinic Blocked ICE Deportation of ISIS Suspect
The University of Chicago Law School is ranked fourth in the nation.
Its Immigrants' Rights Clinic lists its "significant achievements" on the school's website.
Among them: fighting for the release of a man accused of having connections to ISIS. Blocking the removal of a Tunisian national arrested on September 13, 2001 – two days after the attacks – for plotting against a U.S. military base.
The school is proud of this.
Stanford Law School maintains an entire blog series arguing Trump's immigration enforcement is racist.
Berkeley's Human Rights clinic ran workshops coaching more than 300 illegal alien students through the immigration system, then connected them with attorneys for ongoing representation.
UCLA built a dedicated immigration center aiming to become "a national leader in immigration law and policy," and instructs students to view enforcement through a racial lens – claiming U.S. immigration policy has consistently targeted non-white migrants for exclusion, removal, and punishment.
The University of North Dakota trained law students to become "legal observers" – people who follow ICE officers during deportation operations to record and interfere with enforcement.
This is not legal education.
This is a federally subsidized resistance operation, running in plain sight for years.
Columbia University Lost Federal Funding and Paid 200 Million to Get It Back
The Trump administration already proved these schools bend when the money is threatened.
In March 2025, the White House cut $400 million in funding to Columbia University after demanding policy changes on student protests.
Columbia felt it immediately.
Four months later, Columbia cut a deal – paying the federal government a $200 million settlement – and got most of its grants restored.
The cost of attendance for a first-year law student exceeds $58,000 per year, virtually all of it flowing through federal loan programs.
The Trump administration has already moved to cap federal loans for law students at $50,000 annually under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, taking effect in July 2026.
That's a start.
How Trump Can Strip Federal Student Loans From Law Schools Blocking Deportations
Trump has shown the playbook works.
When the White House threatened Columbia's federal funding, Columbia capitulated in months.
The same pressure applied to every law school running an anti-enforcement clinic would produce the same result – because none of these institutions can survive without federal money.
The ABA's own accreditation structure created this system, mandating experiential hours that these schools filled with ICE obstruction.
Congress has the authority to condition federal student loan eligibility on compliance with federal immigration law.
Any law school whose clinic actively works to defeat federal deportation orders should be ineligible for federal student loan processing – meaning students who attend cannot access federal loans.
That is not a radical idea.
That is the same leverage Trump used on Columbia, applied systematically to every institution in the top ten.
The money built this machine.
Pulling the money dismantles it.
Sources:
- Jaryn Crouson, "Here's How Law Schools Are Training The Next Generation Of Immigration Activists," Daily Caller, May 1, 2026.
- "Trump's Higher Education Crackdown: Visa Revocations, DEI Bans, Lawsuits and Funding Cuts," U.S. News & World Report, April 2026.
- "How Law School Financial Aid Works: What to Know," U.S. News & World Report, February 9, 2026.
- American Bar Association, Standards and Rules of Procedure for Approval of Law Schools, Chapter 3.
- "Grants are Available to Worthy Law School Students," CollegeScholarships.org.
