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Robert F. Kennedy Jr. of the Department of Health and Human Services announced Thursday that undocumented immigrants will no longer be allowed to attend HeadStart, a federal program that provides childcare, nutrition and health support to 800,000 low-income, toddlers and preschoolers.
The announcement will soon ban all people living in the country from a set of legal positions that fund federal public programs, including health clinics, family planning and low-income energy assistance programs.
People living in this country are illegally prohibited from using most federal programs, but a 1998 notice gave them access to certain benefits that low-income families with young children rely on. However, in a news release, Kennedy announced that Health and Welfare Welfare has retracted this interpretation and limits the ability of low-income immigrant families to use more than 12 federal programs run by agents.
“For too long, the government has decoupled the taxes of hardworking Americans to encourage illegal immigration,” Kennedy said. “What we do today is, it changes — it restores integrity to federal social programs, implements the rule of law, and protects resources important to Americans.”
As we dig into parenting, interim kindergarten, health, and other issues affecting children ages 5 to 5, we will be involved in journalism funded by our community.
According to a statement from the National Head Start Assn, Head Start did not require documents of immigration status as a condition of registration for the program for the past 60 years.
“Efforts to impose such requirements threaten to create fear and confusion among all families ready to succeed in school and life, with a focus on raising healthy children,” said Yasmina Vinci, executive director of National Head Start ASSN. “This decision undermines the basic commitment the country has made to children and ignores decades of evidence that the beginning of our minds is essential to our collective future.”
Health and Human Services estimates that banning undocumented immigrants from accessing HeadStart will save $374 million a year, while saving $21 million in time spent by people testing document and review eligibility and program transition costs.
The Department of Education, the Department of Agriculture and the Department of Labor have announced that people in the country will be illegally banned from programs run by institutions, including occupation, technology and adult education programs.
“Today, at President Donald J. Trump’s direction, the administration has taken its biggest step in over 30 years to protect benefits funded by American citizens, taxpayers, rather than illegal foreigners,” the White House said in a news release. “The move to maintain approximately $40 billion in benefits for American citizens will overturn decades of bureaucratic rebellion and end open border grants based on President Trump’s executive order.”
The announcement shook the Head Start industry already caught up in the year from a series of layoffs, cuts and threats to completely close the program.
Head Start leaders said it was not clear how the orders will be implemented.
Region 9 Head Start ASSN representing four states including California
“Family status will bring us down on one road, and children’s status will put us down on another road. Most of the children we serve are citizens,” Condon said. It was also unclear whether the changes would apply to all Head Start Centers, including those run by the district. “Everyone is pending. But this is not good news.”
Restricting access to the program could prevent parents from registering citizen children with Head Start without legal status, said Ted Lempert, the child’s current president and former California Congress member.
“We guarantee education in this country to all children, regardless of their status,” he said. “That’s not different in terms of early education, and certainly not when it comes to Head Start.”
The federal lawsuit in the tail of additional cuts in Medicaid and snap food assistance in the approved Republican budget will affect some of the nation’s most vulnerable young children, childcare experts said.
“Lower families often use multiple services,” says Donna Sneeringer, chief strategy officer at Childcare Resource Center, which provides Head Start services to 2,500 children in Southern California, and multiple services, including housing, energy and food aid.” “They do everything they can to put together their work to care for their families.”
Notices announcing changes to the policy will be made public on the federal register, at which time a 30-day public comment period begins.
Health and Human Services said the changes will take effect soon as “delays are against the public interest and cannot handle an ongoing emergency at the US southern border.”
In April, the plaintiffs filed a lawsuit challenging the attack on the Trump administration’s Head Start. The American Civil Liberties Union said in a news release that if the notification is enabled, the plaintiffs plan to modify the complaint to include changes.
This article is part of the Times Early Childhood Education Initiative and focuses on learning and development for California children from birth to age 5. To learn more about the initiative and its charity funders, visit latimes.com/earlyed.
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