July 10, 2025 5:29 pm
WASHINGTON — Today, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued a press release announcing a notice of interpretation of a nearly 30-year-old law to restrict access to critical early education programs for immigrant families. The agency’s action unlawfully expands the definition of “federal public benefit” for HHS under the 1996 Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA) to include Head Start — effectively making certain children ineligible for Head Start for the first time in the program’s history.
HHS’s notice offers no implementation guidance to Head Start agencies and declares the interpretation is effective immediately. HHS also notes that verification requirements under PRWORA remain unchanged, which makes the full scope of the operational impact of the policy unclear.
If the notice takes effect, plaintiffs in a lawsuit that was filed in April challenging attacks by the Trump administration to Head Start vow to amend their complaint to fight back against this new attack on Head Start. The plaintiffs include parent groups Parent Voices Oakland and Family Forward Oregon, and the Head Start associations of Washington state, Illinois, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. Plaintiffs in the case are represented by the American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Washington, the ACLU of Illinois, and the Impact Fund.
“Head Start was created to serve low-income children and families, including immigrant communities who are vital to our economy and our future. This directive attempts to force agencies to turn away the very families we are legally mandated to support. It’s a cruel and unlawful move that threatens the wellbeing of children and the stability of entire communities,” said Joel Ryan, executive director, Washington State Head Start & Early Childhood Education and Assistance Program.
“Head Start has been a cornerstone in communities across the country. We urge Head Start providers to continue to serve children and refrain from making any immediate changes to enrollment policy until they have an opportunity to fully evaluate their legal obligations,” said Jennie Mauer, executive director of the Wisconsin Head Start Association.
“As part of its broader attack on working families, this administration is unlawfully attempting to rewrite the PRWORA to make it harder for children to access critical early childhood education. No agency – including HHS – has ever defined early education as a restricted ‘federal public benefit,’” said Jennesa Calvo-Friedman, senior staff attorney at the ACLU Women’s Rights Project. “The Head Start Act clearly states it is an education program with the purpose to ‘promote the school readiness of low-income children,’ and includes both statutory and regulatory criteria which impose no eligibility restriction based on immigration status.”
“Implementation of this directive will create fear and confusion for immigrant families about enrolling their children in Head Start regardless of what their legal status may be. This will harm children and destabilize Head Start programs,” said Lori Rifkin, litigation director at the Impact Fund. “If the administration moves forward with publication of this notice, we will take legal action.”
The case page can be found here.