New Trump Rule Bans Undocumented Immigrant Families From Head Start
Wisconsin Head Start director says change will have 'chilling effect' on program.
Preschool students draw pictures Friday, Oct. 27, 2023, at Wee Care Child Center in Waupun, Wis. Angela Major/WPR
Immigrant families lacking permanent legal status will no longer qualify for federally funded preschool through the Head Start program, the Trump administration announced this week.
The change is a major policy shift rescinding a nearly 30-year-old law that will have a ripple effect across Wisconsin, said Jennie Mauer, executive director of the Wisconsin Head Start Association.
“We’re deeply, deeply alarmed by this,” Mauer said. “I believe this will have dramatic chilling effects for families.”
In a news release on Thursday, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said it was rescinding an interpretation of federal law issued under President Bill Clinton that allowed “undocumented immigrants” to access certain programs because they were not considered “federal public benefits.”
“For too long, the government has diverted hardworking Americans’ tax dollars to incentivize illegal immigration,” HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. said in the release. “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.”
Head Start is among the programs included in the updated and expanded list of classified “federal public benefits.”
Mauer said Head Start does not keep track of families’ demographic information, so trying to estimate the number of Wisconsin families who won’t be able to access the program would be a difficult.
But she said the Trump administration directive is causing fear.
“Families talk, and if fear is palpable in a community and families are scared to go to a place that previously felt safe, that will have a ripple effect for our children,” Mauer said. “When we politicize children, I think that’s a really scary place to be.”
Head Start is celebrating its 60th anniversary this year.
The federal program was created to provide early childhood education, health, nutrition and parent services to low-income families with children from birth to age 5.
The Wisconsin Head Start program serves between 13,000 and 16,000 families per year, Mauer said.
In April, a leaked early draft of President Donald Trump’s proposed budget suggested the elimination of Head Start.
Advocates urged Congress to save the program.
In April, Wisconsin Head Start joined a national ACLU lawsuit challenging attacks by the Trump administration to the program.
The ACLU is now amending its complaint to include restricting access for immigrant families.
“Head Start was created to serve low-income children and families, including immigrant communities who are vital to our economy and our future,” Joel Ryan, executive director of the Washington State Head Start & Early Childhood Education and Assistance Program, said in a statement. “This directive attempts to force agencies to turn away the very families we are legally mandated to support.”
New Trump rule bans undocumented immigrant families from Head Start was originally published by Wisconsin Public Radio.
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