CHICAGO (AP) — The Illinois attorney general has joined 20 of his counterparts around the country in asking that the U.S. Department of Education reverse limitations on routine disclosures of student loan information to state law enforcement.

Kwame Raoul says the restrictions interfere with efforts to protect students from predatory practices. A statement last week from his office cites Raoul as saying the restrictions “prevent law enforcement agencies from doing their job of holding servicers accountable.”

But a Monday statement from the Department of Education media office says “Federal loans are Federal assets and therefore must be controlled and regulated by the Federal government.” It argues that what it characterizes as “a piecemeal, state-by-state approach to regulating Federal assets causes confusion for borrowers” and makes administering “the loan program more complicated and costly.”