HHS Moves to Block Head Start for Illegal Immigrants

The Trump administration will restrict immigrants in the country illegally from enrolling in Head Start, a federally funded preschool program, the Department of Health and Human Services announced Thursday. The move is part of a broad effort to limit access to federal benefits for immigrants who lack legal status, reports the AP. People in the country illegally are largely ineligible for federal public benefits such as food stamps, student loans, and financial aid for higher education. But for decades they have been able to access some community-level programs such as Head Start and community health centers.

HHS said it will reclassify those programs as federal public benefits, excluding immigrants in the country illegally from accessing them. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said the changes were part of a larger effort to protect American citizens' interests. "For too long, the government has diverted hardworking Americans' tax dollars to incentivize illegal immigration," Kennedy said in a statement. "Today's action ... restores integrity to federal social programs, enforces the rule of law, and protects vital resources for the American people." A rep for the Administration for Children and Families, which administers Head Start, said that eligibility will be determined based on the child's immigration status.

Requiring proof of immigration status would likely create fear and confusion among families seeking to enroll their children, said Yasmina Vinci, executive director of the National Head Start Association. "This decision undermines the fundamental commitment that the country has made to children and disregards decades of evidence that Head Start is essential to our collective future," Vinci said. The changes are part of a multi-agency announcement rescinding an interpretation of federal law dating to former President Clinton's administration, which had allowed immigrants in the country illegally to access some programs.

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The Education Department, the Department of Agriculture, and the Department of Labor announced similar changes affecting a range of workforce development and adult education programs. The changes will affect community health centers that immigrants rely on for a wide range of services, said Shelby Gonzales, vice president of immigration policy at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. "People depend on those services to get cancer treatment, to get ongoing maintenance for a variety of different health needs," she said.