The lawsuit contends the federal government is going too far in requiring immigration and citizenship records

Dave Mason
The Center Square

California, Arizona, Nevada, Colorado and Washington are part of a 20-state coalition suing the Trump administration over restricting access to health, education and social service programs.

The lawsuit contends the federal government is going too far in requiring immigration and citizenship records.

Democratic attorney generals from the states warn the new rules are threatening the Head Start program for children 5 and younger, Title IX family planning, adult education, mental health and substance abuse programs, community health centers and shelters for at-risk youth and domestic violence survivors.

The lawsuit noted that hungry individuals were previously never required to show a government-issued ID to enter a soup kitchen or food bank and that parents never had to show their children’s citizenship or immigration records before enrolling them in Head Start.

“People facing homelessness or domestic violence have never needed proof of immigration status to walk into a shelter,” the suit said.

The U.S. Departments of Health and Human Services, Education, Labor and Justice on July 10 reinterpreted the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act to restrict federal funds for people who can’t verify their immigration status. Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes’ office said the decision is a major change from previous Republican and Democratic administrations.

“This is yet another outrageous attempt by this administration to workaround the law and disrupt critical services Arizonans depend on every day,” Mayes said in a news release.

Rhode Island, Washington and New York are leading the lawsuit, which was filed Monday in the U.S. District Court for Rhode Island. Besides California, Colorado, Nevada and Arizona, the rest of the coalition consists of Connecticut, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Vermont, Wisconsin and the District of Columbia.

“Congress designed these services to be widely accessible to people in this country. But now the Trump administration wants to do an immigration check as preschoolers file into the classroom, ready to learn their ABCs,” Washington Attorney General Nick Brown said in a news release. “These notices impose unworkable requirements on state agencies and providers that are plainly intended to damage these vital support systems and intimidate vulnerable people.”

California Attorney General Rob Bonta warned the Trump administration’s “latest salvo in the President’s anti-humane anti-immigration campaign” would target working mothers and their young children. Bonta said the federal government is not going after waste, fraud and abuse, but programs delivering essential child care, health care, nutrition and education assistance.

“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,” Bonta said in a news release. “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.” 

This report was first published by The Center Square.