California on Thursday joined Democrat-led states in suing the Trump administration, seeking to halt massive layoffs at the Department of Education, alleging the cuts amount to an illegal shutdown of its work to administer student loans,

A group of states, including Michigan, argued in court that the Department is vital to providing educational services throughout the U.S.

The suit from 20 states and the District of Columbia comes two days after the federal agency fired more than 1,300 employees.

A group of Democratic state attorneys general on Thursday filed a lawsuit seeking to block the Department of Education from mass layoffs.