Undocumented children will be permitted to remain in Head Start programs throughout the country while a case challenging an order by the Trump administration barring them makes its way through the courts, a Seattle judge ruled Thursday.
The decision came just a day after another U.S. district court judge in Rhode Island granted a preliminary injunction that offered similar protections to preschoolers in 20 states, plus Washington, D.C. That ruling also means undocumented residents can still access adult and career and technical education and a range of federally funded emergency services, including for domestic violence victims, veterans and those experiencing homelessness.
Linda Morris, an attorney in the ACLU’s Women’s Rights Project, a plaintiff in the Washington state case, said she was elated by the decision, noting its sweeping scope.
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“This is an incredible victory, especially for Head Start providers and Head Start children and families,” she said. “Today’s ruling makes clear that every child, no matter their immigration status, deserves access to early educational support. We are extremely pleased with the court’s decision.”
In issuing the national injunction, U.S. District Court Judge Ricardo Martinez strongly rebuked the Health and Human Services Department, which oversees Head Start and funds 80% of its costs, for changing a longstanding legal interpretation and classifying it for the first time as a federal public benefit.
Undocumented immigrants are not eligible for these supports, including food assistance and non-emergency Medicaid. The move to restrict Head Start access is part of a wider Trump administration effort to exclude the undocumented from all taxpayer-funded services and programs, including several that involve education and job training.
From Head Start to Adult Ed, Trump Narrows Pathway for Undocumented Students
The ruling restores Head Start eligibility to children and families who have student visas and other temporary statuses and were also excluded by HHS’s July directive. The move affected the eligibility of more than 500,000 kids, according to the agency’s own analysis, and impacted approximately 115,000 children currently enrolled in the program.
Andrew Nixon, the HHS communications director, said Friday his office disagrees with the injunctions and is evaluating next steps.
Joel Ryan is the executive director of the Washington State Association of Head Start and the Early Childhood Education and Assistance Program. (Washington State Association of Head Start and ECEAP)
In addition to the ACLU, Head Start associations from four states and two parent and caregiver groups sued the agency and Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in the Washington case.
Joel Ryan is executive director of one of the plaintiff organizations, the Washington State Association of Head Start and the Early Childhood Education and Assistance Program.
“I feel relief. I feel like people can breathe a little bit more,” said Ryan, whose organization also sued the administration earlier this year, alleging it was crippling the program by delaying funding, shuttering five regional offices and firing scores of employees.
Wave of Washington Head Starts Shut Down as Chaos Engulfs Federal Program
Martinez rejected the Trump administration’s assertion that Head Start is a welfare program because it provides other means of support, including meals. Public schools do the same and no one would argue they are not educational in nature, he wrote.
“Providing services such as health care, nutrition and other social services does not make Head Start non-educational but, as the Head Start Act states, ‘promotes the school readiness of low-income children by enhancing their cognitive, social and emotional development,’” he wrote, noting, too, that Head Start funds do not provide payments of benefits to individual households or families.
In court Tuesday, U.S. Department of Justice attorney Micheal Velchik tried to parse the level of learning and instruction that takes place in Head Start from what’s taught at the K-12 level.
“It’s preschool so it’s not really education in that sense,” said Velchik, who mistakenly referred to the program as Head First several times.
Jannesa Calvo-Friedman, the plaintiffs’ attorney, said undocumented parents, families of mixed immigration status and others with full legal standing but who lack documentation told Head Start operators they were keeping their kids away out of fear or confusion.
“The children who are losing education at this time [in their lives] can never get it back,” Calvo-Friedman said, citing studies on the critical nature of early learning. “Unless the directive is stayed or enjoined, defendants will continue to communicate the message that immigrant families need not apply.”
With New Directive on Undocumented Children, is Head Start Changed Forever?
Martinez agreed that allowing the directive to go into effect while the underlying case was being argued would impose imminent and irreparable harm.
“While actual loss of funding from under enrollment might be down the road, families losing access to Head Start due to the Directive’s unclear guidance and chilling effects appears anything but speculative and exists even prior to enforcement,” he notes.
The judge expressed disbelief at the government’s contention that implementing the restriction immediately would discourage illegal immigration.
“The Court is floored by this argument,” he wrote. “Nothing on the record provides any means for this Court to infer that access to Head Start ‘incentivizes’ illegal immigration.”
Parents, Head Start Providers Challenge New Rule Barring Undocumented Families
Head Start was established in 1965 to help improve kindergarten readiness for low-income children and to support their families. It has served more than 40 million young learners and their families in the 60 years since.
