PROVIDENCE — Twenty states and the District of Columbia filed a lawsuit Monday against the Trump administration to stop it from restricting access to health, education, and social service programs based on immigration status.
Two weeks ago, the administration issued notices prohibiting state safety net programs from serving all residents, regardless of immigration status.
The sudden change threatens access to critical services like Head Start, Title X family planning, adult education, mental health care, and Community Health Centers.
The lawsuit, filed in US District Court in Providence, asks the court to halt the new federal rules and act quickly to ensure continued access to the social services programs.
“For the first time, millions of people are facing a new demand before they can access the Nation’s most essential programs: ‘show me your papers,’” the lawsuit states. “This is not America, and it is not the law.”
Rhode Island Attorney General Peter F. Neronha, who is co-leading the lawsuit with New York Attorney General Letitia James and Washington Attorney General Nick Brown, warned that “the consequences could be dire.”
“By changing the rules with no notice, agencies and organizations that receive federal funding for critical services must quickly pivot or risk shuttering,” Neronha said in a statement. “For example, if access to mental health and substance use disorder services is lessened or eliminated, already overburdened hospitals across the country could become further overwhelmed. These federal funding streams are critically important to the health and well-being of all Rhode Islanders, as well as our health care system, and we will fight to ensure they remain uninterrupted.”
Attorneys general from every New England state except New Hampshire joined the lawsuit, along with Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawai’i, Illinois, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Wisconsin, Washington, and the District of Columbia.
People in the country illegally are ineligible for federal public benefits such as food stamps, student loans and financial aid for higher education. However, they have been able to access community-level programs.
And, for nearly 30 years and through five presidential administrations, according to the lawsuit, the federal government was consistent on the requirements of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act, known as PRWORA.
States needed to verify a person’s lawful status before allowing them to access certain federal programs, such as Medicaid and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families. At the same time, the federal agencies told the states that PRWORA didn’t require them to check someone’s papers to allow them access to other community programs, such as food banks, Head Start, shelters, or rehabilitation clinics.
Not anymore.
On July 10, the US Departments of Health and Human Services, Education, Labor, and Justice changed the rules.
The new rules restrict states from using federal funds to provide services to individuals who cannot verify immigration status. That means state safety net programs — soup kitchens, domestic violence shelters, Head Start, crisis counseling centers, senior nutrition programs, health centers in schools — must screen for immigration status.
Under the new rules, undocumented immigrants will be prevented from enrolling in Head Start, a federally funded preschool program, and accessing other programs including Title X family planning, adult education, mental health care, and Community Health Centers. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said the changes are part of a larger effort to protect American citizens’ interests.
The Departments of Education and Labor placed education and workforce training programs within the statute’s scope.
The rules took effect with minimal notice and affect not only undocumented immigrants, but also, Neronha said, some lawful visa holders and even US citizens who lack access to formal documentation.
The state programs are expected to comply immediately, but most providers can’t implement major regulatory changes overnight, so they face losing federal funding.
Neronha said these abrupt restrictions could impact the “tens of millions” of dollars funding programs related to opioid treatment, homeless services, and mental health program in all public schools in Rhode Island, according to the state Department of Behavioral Healthcare, Developmental Disabilities & Hospitals.
Funding changes to those community programs could lead to a health care crisis.
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. The changes also violate the Constitution’s Spending Clause by imposing new funding conditions on states without fair notice or consent.
The coalition is asking the court to declare the new rules unlawful, halt their implementation through preliminary and permanent injunctions, vacate the rules and restore the long-standing agency practice, and prevent the federal government from using PRWORA as a pretext to dismantle core safety net programs in the future.
Amanda Milkovits can be reached at amanda.milkovits@globe.com. Follow her @AmandaMilkovits.