Led by Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey, a coalition of 19 states on Thursday filed a lawsuit against Education Secretary Betsy DeVos and her department over their efforts to prevent the implementation of new federal rules designed to protect students from the predatory practices of for-profit colleges and their allies in the student loan industry.

The rules in question, known as “borrower defense,” would make it easier for student to receive debt forgiveness when defrauded by higher education institutions. After years of consideration by the Obama administration the new rules were set to go into effect on July 1, but were put on hold by DeVos.

“Since day one, Secretary DeVos has sided with for-profit school executives against students and families drowning in unaffordable student loans,” Healey said in a statement. “Her decision to cancel vital protections for students and taxpayers is a betrayal of her office’s responsibility and a violation of federal law.”

In the wake of the announcement, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) issued her support of the states’ legal challenge, tweeting, “Betsy DeVos might not like it, but her job is to serve students [and] if she won’t do it, we will force her to do so.” The purpose of the effort, explained Warren is to challenge the “illegal attempt” of Devos “to protect fly-by-night schools that cheat students and bury them in mountains of debt.”

While for-profit colleges make up a relatively small fraction of annual student enrollment nationwide, those who attend such schools stand a much a larger chance of racking up burdensome levels of outstanding debt.