The top law enforcement officials in 21 states are accusing Betsy DeVos’s Department of Education of blocking them from accessing information they say they need to hold student-loan companies accountable for allegedly harming borrowers.

Attorneys general in New Jersey, Washington, Colorado and 18 other states, wrote to DeVos this week, asking her reverse the limitations the Department has placed on the disclosure of student-loan information to state law enforcement agencies. In the past, state AGs probing student-loan companies have been able to access records related to the federal student-loan program held by those companies — which are contractors of the Department of Education — in the course of probes or litigation.

But over the past year, the Department has blocked these efforts multiple times, the AGs wrote. In court documents and elsewhere, the Department has argued that releasing this information, which could include things like internal correspondence or data on borrower accounts, to state AGs would put the agency at risk of violating the Privacy Act, a law governing the use and distribution of records maintained by the government.

“ In the past, state AGs have been able to access records related to the federal student-loan program. ”

That policy is a “sharp departure” from the way the agency has historically approached releasing this information to law enforcement officials, the AGs wrote. They also argue it’s getting in the way of their ability to enforce consumer-protection laws, and “shields unprincipled industry actors” from state regulators, “harming student-loan borrowers nationwide.”

In addition, the Department’s decision “represents a significant step away from the interests of consumers and toward the interests of corporate actors,” the AGs wrote.

Liz Hill, a Department of Education spokeswoman, wrote in an emailed statement that the agency “takes very seriously its responsibility to provide high-quality service to federal student-loan borrowers.”

“Federal loans are federal assets and, therefore, must be controlled and regulated by the federal government,” she wrote, adding that “a piecemeal, state-by-state approach” to regulating student loans creates confusion for borrowers and makes administration of the program more confusing and costly.

The Department’s change in policy is ‘startling news’

Peter Swire, a privacy-law expert at Georgia Tech, called the Department’s change in policy “startling news.” The Privacy Act allows for routine uses of information, which for decades has included legitimate law enforcement investigations, added Swire, who supervised the Privacy Act during the Clinton administration.

The information contained in the records that state AGs are seeking “has been essential for documenting and prosecuting large scale fraud,” in the student-loan and higher-education industries, he said. “Blocking law enforcement access in this way appears to help the fraudsters far more than the public interest.”

“ ‘Blocking law enforcement access in this way appears to help the fraudsters far more than the public interest.’ ” — – Peter Swire, privacy law expert

The letter is the latest development in an ongoing battle between states, the federal government and student loan companies over states’ role in regulating the firms. The companies, which are typically borrowers’ main point of contact when repaying their student loans, are also in many cases contractors of the federal government.

But consumer advocates have argued for years that these companies don’t do enough to act in borrowers’ best interests and that the federal government is turning a blind eye to these practices. A report from the Department of Education’s Inspector General, an internal watchdog, found that the agency “rarely” held its student-loan contractors accountable when they skirted regulations.

Both the companies’ behavior and the Department’s lax oversight has made it more difficult than necessary for borrowers to repay their loans, consumer advocates say, exacerbating the $1.5 trillion student-debt problem.

Seeing what they viewed as a void in oversight of student-loan firms, lawmakers in states across the country have worked over the past few years to pass laws that would require student-loan companies to have a license to operate in their state.

At the same time, several attorneys general, including many of those who signed on to the letter, have sued student-loan companies, arguing that they’ve violated state consumer protection laws already on the books.

DeVos and her agency have attempted to shield student-loan companies from these efforts both through memos and in court. In some cases, the agency has done this by refusing to turn over information to state attorneys general investigating these companies. In the letter, the state AGs call the agency’s decision to stop sharing this information without providing a formal reason for its decision “particularly troubling,” adding that the agency “did not appear to consider” their concerns, which were initially outlined in a July letter.

Swire described the Department’s decision to change its policies with little explanation “remarkable and probably lawless.” “Drastic changes in longstanding law should not be done without explanation,” he said.