California and a coalition of 20 different states secured a short lived pause Friday on the Trump administration’s new guidelines barring immigrants residing within the nation illegally from accessing dozens of federally funded applications, together with baby care, well being care and diet providers.
The pause comes days after the coalition, made up of California Lawyer Normal Rob Bonta and 20 different attorneys common, sued the administration over the coverage change, which the federal authorities introduced earlier this month and stated was obligatory to make sure taxpayer-funded “public resources are no longer used to incentivize illegal immigration.”
As a part of the Trump administration’s change, federally funded applications can be required to confirm recipients’ immigration standing — reversing a Clinton administration coverage that prolonged “public benefit” applications to individuals residing within the nation with out authorized permission.
Packages included within the Trump administration’s restriction would come with psychological well being providers, grownup schooling, substance use remedy and prevention, short-term housing help, cooling facilities, meals banks and early childhood schooling and childcare providers, together with Head Begin — a nationwide program that serves greater than 750,000 low-income youngsters aged 0 to 5-years previous throughout the U.S. This system supplies free faculty meals and medical screenings, baby care, and assist and job help for folks.
California stated the state’s Head Begin applications served greater than 80,345 youngsters and households in 2023-24 at 1,842 particular person web site areas. And an EdSource evaluation of Head Begin knowledge discovered California Head Begin applications are anticipated to obtain $1.5 billion in federal funding for the 2025 fiscal yr.
The U.S. Division of Well being and Human Companies stated preliminary evaluation by the company estimates Americans may obtain as a lot as $374 million in extra Head Begin providers yearly by the change.
However Bonta’s workplace stated the Trump administration’s “abrupt reversal of nearly three decades of precedent” amounted to a “cruel” and “devastating” assault on among the state’s most weak residents, together with low-income households, at-risk youth and survivors of home violence.
The states’ lawsuit stated the brand new verification necessities would even be extraordinarily expensive, costing states’ economies “hundreds of millions of dollars each year” and threaten the applications’ talents to proceed offering providers to all residents, “not just noncitizens.”
Bonta’s workplace stated the change would “have a chilling effect” and result in decreased enrollment. His workplace stated if regional recipients don’t hit the obligatory 97% enrollment targets, they’ll lose federal funding and be pressured to close down, harming all contributors.
The states’ lawsuit contains California, New York, Washington, Rhode Island, Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, the District of Columbia, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Vermont and Wisconsin.
The coalition secured an settlement Friday briefly stopping the Trump administration from making any immigration-based eligibility adjustments to the applications earlier than September 3, 2025.
“The Trump Administration threw Head Start and other social safety net programs into chaos when it abruptly reversed nearly three decades of federal law and policy that opened these programs up to all,” Bonta stated Friday in an announcement. “With today’s agreement, these critical programs — and the families who rely on them — can breathe a little easier. California will not back down in the fight to protect access to these programs that help ensure that our communities thrive.”
Initially Revealed: July 25, 2025 at 2:38 PM PDT
