In a Monday press release, Washington state Attorney General Nick Brown said that the White House has authorized a “chaotic reversal” of longstanding agency policy, “prohibiting state safety net programs from serving all residents, regardless of immigration status.”
Washington has become the latest state to join a high-profile lawsuit against the Trump administration and its decision to cut certain immigrants out of public benefits programs.
In a Monday press release, Washington state Attorney General Nick Brown said that the White House has authorized a “chaotic reversal” of longstanding agency policy, “prohibiting state safety net programs from serving all residents, regardless of immigration status.”
The lawsuit alleges that, in implementing this new rule, the Trump administration failed to consider how the change could impact access to “critical services” like Head Start, adult education, and mental health care.
“Congress designed these services to be widely accessible to people in this country,” Brown said in a press release. “But now the Trump administration wants to do an immigration check as preschoolers file into the classroom, ready to learn their ABCs.”
“These notices [of changes to federal policy] impose unworkable requirements on state agencies and providers that are plainly intended to damage these vital support systems and intimidate vulnerable people,” Brown said.
The lawsuit relates to a series of practical and procedural changes that were slated to take effect on July 10.
Beginning on July 10, the U.S. Departments of Health and Human Services, Education, Labor, and Justice issued new guidance on the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act, or PRWORA.
The administration’s new interpretation of PRWORA prohibits states from using federal funds to provide subsidized services to anyone who cannot verify their immigration status. This is in contrast to the “long-standing federal practice under both Republican and Democratic administrations.”
California Attorney General Rob Bonta, a Democrat involved in the same lawsuit, emphasized the abruptness of the Trump administration’s changing priorities.
“Let’s be clear: This latest salvo in the President’s inhumane anti-immigration campaign primarily goes after working moms and their young children. We’re not talking about waste, fraud, and abuse, we’re talking about programs that deliver essential childcare, healthcare, nutrition, and education assistance, programs that have for decades been open to all because we understand that we are better off when everyone has the chance to succeed.” Bonta said in a press release. “The Trump Administration’s abrupt reversal of nearly three decades of precedent – and decision to put at risk not just support for undocumented families, but ultimately families who rely on these programs nationwide – is cruel, but unfortunately unsurprising. So is its lack of regard for the law. Six months into the second Trump Administration, I’ll repeat a familiar refrain: We’ll see President Trump in court.”
Bonta, Brown, and the attorneys general of nearly two-dozen other states are now asking a federal court to issue an injunction preventing the immigration and benefits-related guidance from being enforced.
“The lawsuit argues that the federal government acted unlawfully by issuing these changes without following required procedures under the Administrative Procedure Act, and by misapplying PRWORA to entire programs rather than to individual benefits,” Brown’s office said in a statement. “The changes also violate the Constitution’s Spending Clause by imposing new funding conditions on states without fair notice or consent.”
Sources
AG Brown files lawsuit to block federal restrictions on public benefits
ATTORNEY GENERAL RAOUL FILES LAWSUIT TO BLOCK FEDERAL RESTRICTIONS ON PUBLIC BENEFITS
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