Washington and a multistate coalition secure preliminary injunction preserving access to key social services

SEATTLE - A multistate coalition co-led by the Washington State Attorney General's Office has secured a preliminary injunction blocking the Trump administration's attempt to prevent millions of vulnerable Americans from accessing essential health, education, and social service programs.

Twenty-one states and the District of Columbia challenged the federal government's reinterpretation of a decades-old law governing access to social services for non-citizens. This week, a federal court granted the coalition's request for a preliminary injunction, blocking sweeping new rules that threatened to restrict access for many non-citizens to programs like Head Start, Title X family planning clinics, food banks, domestic violence shelters, adult education, and community health centers.

Earlier this summer, the U.S. Departments of Health and Human Services, Education, Labor, and Justice issued directives abruptly redefining longstanding policy under the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA). For nearly 30 years, Republican and Democratic administrations alike interpreted PRWORA to allow states to offer vital public health, education, and anti-poverty programs regardless of immigration status.

The Trump administration's sudden reversal would have forced states to impose immigration status verification on countless services, threatening catastrophic funding losses and program closures.

"This administration wants soup kitchens to turn away hungry people because of their immigration status, or prevent little kids from preparing for school," Brown. "The judge has rightly said our case is strong and the federal agencies likely broke the law. It's important validation that people across Washington should continue to have access to these vital services."

The court's decision halts implementation of those new directives in the plaintiff states while litigation proceeds, ensuring that millions of families can continue to access critical services without fear of denial or disruption. With this ruling, the judge acknowledged that the administration likely violated the Administrative Procedure Act and the Constitution by, among other things, issuing sweeping new mandates without lawful rulemaking and failing to consider the devastating impacts on states and communities.

Joining Brown in this lawsuit are the attorneys general of New York, Rhode Island, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawai'i, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Vermont, Wisconsin, and the District of Columbia.

For more on the lawsuit, click here.

The judge's order granting the preliminary injunction is available here.

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