Washington Examiner
A federal judge blocked the Trump administration on Thursday from carrying out a policy that restricts illegal immigrants from being enrolled in the federally funded Head Start preschool program nationwide.
Judge Ricardo Martinez of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington blocked a July directive from the Department of Health and Human Services, which rescinded a 1998 interpretation of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 that allowed illegal immigrants to be enrolled in the Head Start program. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said at the time that the decision restored integrity to social programs and protected “vital resources for the American people.”
Martinez, an appointee of former President George W. Bush, said in his ruling that HHS did not go through the proper rulemaking process when restricting eligibility of the federally funded program. He said the change “results in parents losing childcare, risking missed work, unemployment, forced dropouts, and inability to pay life expenses and support families.”
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