Undocumented children will no longer be able to access federally funded Head Start programs for low-income families, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., announced on Thursday as part of a sweeping redefinition of eligibility for the scheme.
“For too long, the government has diverted hardworking Americans’ tax dollars to incentivize illegal immigration,” Kennedy said in a statement. “Today’s action changes that—it restores integrity to federal social programs, enforces the rule of law, and protects vital resources for the American people.”
Under the policy change, the Department of Health and Human Services has scrapped a 1998 guidance which allowed undocumented people to access certain programs that were not technically considered “federal public benefits” under a 1996 welfare reform law.
The National Head Start Association criticized today’s announcement, saying there was “no good reason” to deny low-income immigrant children access to initiatives like Head Start, which comprises a suite of early-childhood learning, health, and nutrition programs.
“The Head Start Act has never required documentation of immigration status as a condition for enrollment over the last 60 years,” executive director Yasmina Vinci wrote. “Attempts to impose such a requirement threaten to create fear and confusion among all families who are focused on raising healthy children, ready to succeed in school and life.”
The Department of Health and Human Services claims the changes will free up as much as $347 million in additional Head Start services, which represents about three percent of the program’s annual budget, according to Chalkbeat.
The Independent has contacted the agency for more details, including its estimates on the number of undocumented children actually using Head Start.
Data about the topic is limited, though information suggests such children may make up only a small part of the federal program.
Immigrant children are about seven times less likely to enroll in center-based childcare like Head Start than their U.S.-born counterparts, according to one 2019 paper, and undocumented children likely make up a low, single-digit percentage of the overall population of children in the U.S.
The change in federal eligibility, which also applies to programs like federally funded health centers, substance abuse disorder initiatives, and family planning programs, immediately took effect, but is open to public comment for the next 30 days.
The shift could put the administration at odds with a 1982 Supreme Court decision that ruled children have a right to access public education regardless of their citizenship status.
Under Kennedy, the health agency has made a number of moves to align with the administration’s emphasis on ending illegal immigration, including seeking to prevent states from diverting Medicare and Medicaid funding to ineligible immigrants, and providing information from its Office of Refugee Resettlement to the Department of Homeland Security.
In April, civil rights and health groups sued the agency for blocking $65.8 million in family planning grants to at least seven states, in what they claimed was retaliation for these jurisdictions’ stances on diversity and immigration.
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