By Diana Novak Jones
CHICAGO (Reuters) -More than 20 Democratic attorneys general on Monday sued to block a Trump administration policy that bars migrants living in the U.S. illegally from accessing federally-funded programs for low-income families that provide early childhood education, food and healthcare, saying it could force the programs to shutter altogether.
The attorneys general from states, including New York, California and Illinois, filed the lawsuit in federal court in Providence, Rhode Island, asking the court to block policies announced by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the U.S. Department of Justice and several other agencies outlined in memos released earlier this month.
They argue the policies, which implement an immigration-focused executive order from Republican President Donald Trump are unconstitutional and were issued without following the required federal rulemaking process.
The directives require programs to check participants’ immigration status before providing services, or risk losing critical federal funding, the lawsuit said.
The requirements went into effect almost immediately after the directives were issued, leaving the programs scrambling to find ways to comply so they can stay open, it said. Immigrants in the country illegally have generally been ineligible for most federal benefits, but until the memos were issued, some programs providing healthcare, food and early childcare education were not treated as restricted federal benefits.
Additionally, the policy also applies to some people who are in the country legally, like those with student visas, and could harm U.S. citizens without government identification, they said.
New York Attorney General Letitia James said her state’s Head Start program receives approximately $700 million in federal funding to provide early childhood education to nearly 43,000 children. Many providers in the program have said they may not have the capacity to screen participants’ immigration status, putting the funding at risk.
“This is a baseless attack on some of our country’s most effective and inclusive public programs, and we will not let it stand,” New York Attorney General Letitia James said in a statement.
The DOJ did not immediately respond to requests for comment. A spokesperson for HHS said the agency does not comment on pending litigation.
In a statement earlier this month, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr said his agency was making the change to disincentivize illegal immigration.
The lawsuit asks the court to halt the policy and vacate it.
The agencies announced the policy beginning on July 10, saying it was part of their effort to follow a February Trump executive order. The executive order, “Ending Taxpayer Subsidization of Open Borders,” said a 1996 federal law governing federal benefits prevented their use by people in the country illegally.
The attorneys general said the Trump administration has misinterpreted the law, applying it to entire programs rather than to individual benefits. The policy also violates the U.S. Constitution’s Spending Clause, which requires the federal government to provide fair notice of any conditions on federal funding before states accept it, the group said.
(Reporting by Diana Novak Jones, Editing by Alexia Garamfalvi and Aurora Ellis)
