NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti joined “Students for fair admission” to file an anti-discrimination lawsuit against the US Department of Education.

The lawsuit claims the Hispanic Serving Institution program, or HSI program, is discriminatory and unconstitutional.

Click here to read the lawsuit.

According to the lawsuit, the reason the program discriminates is because it only provides federal funding to needy students who go to colleges and universities that already have a student body that is comprised of 25% or more of Hispanic students.

AG Skrmetti cited the University of Memphis as an example, which is ineligible for the grant even though enrollment is 61% minorities.

“A federal grant system that openly discriminates against students based on ethnicity isn’t just wrong and un-American—it’s unconstitutional,” said Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti. “In SFFA v. Harvard, the Supreme Court ruled that racially discriminatory admissions standards violate the law, and the HSI program’s discriminatory grant standards are just as illegal. Treating people differently because of their skin color and ancestry drags our country backwards. The HSI program perversely deprives even needy Hispanic students of the benefits of this funding if they attend institutions that don’t meet the government’s arbitrary quota.”

AG Skrmetti

The lawsuit is seeking to end the HSI program’s “nonsensical, divisive, and discriminatory requirement and declare the limitation on access unconstitutional.”