More than 20 Democrat attorneys general are suing the Trump administration after the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) revealed that illegal aliens would be barred from accessing certain benefits from the department.
Attorneys general from states such as Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Oregon, Rhode Island, and Vermont, along with Washington, DC, joined New York Attorney General Letitia James (D) in filing a lawsuit “asking the court to declare the new rules unlawful, halt their implementation through preliminary and permanent injunctions,” according to a press release from James.
As Breitbart News reported, at the beginning of July, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. revealed that the department would be working to prevent illegal aliens from accessing benefits such as Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinics; Community Mental Health Services Block Grant; Head Start; Mental Health and Substance Use Disorder Treatment, Prevention, and Recovery Support Services Programs administered by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, among others.
James and the coalition of Democrat attorneys general are also asking the court to “vacate the rules and restore long-standing practice, and prevent the federal government from using PWORA as a pretext to dismantle core safety net programs in the future.”
“For decades, states like New York have built health, education, and family support systems that serve anyone in need,” James said in a statement. “These programs work because they are open, accessible, and grounded in compassion. Now, the federal government is pulling that foundation out from under us overnight, jeopardizing cancer screenings, early childhood education, primary care, and so much more.”
Breitbart News reported:
Since 1998, under the Bill Clinton administration, the HHS reinterpreted the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 to let illegal aliens use certain benefits.
While James argued in a post on X that the Trump administration was “trying to gut Head Start, community health clinics, food banks, and other lifeline programs by banning states from serving their residents,” RFK Jr. has explained that “for too long,” the United States government “has diverted hardworking Americans’ tax dollars to incentivize illegal immigration.”
Kennedy added that the decision to prevent illegal aliens from accessing taxpayer-funded programs “restores integrity to federal social programs” and enforces the rule of law.
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