{"id":1546591,"date":"2025-07-11T22:05:00","date_gmt":"2025-07-12T02:05:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/?p=1546591"},"modified":"2025-07-11T22:05:00","modified_gmt":"2025-07-12T02:05:00","slug":"rfk-jr-bans-illegal-immigrants-from-government-funded-programs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/rfk-jr-bans-illegal-immigrants-from-government-funded-programs\/1546591\/","title":{"rendered":"RFK Jr. Bans Illegal Immigrants From Government-Funded Programs"},"content":{"rendered":"

RFK Jr. Bans Illegal Immigrants From Government-Funded Programs<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Authored by Zachary Stieber via The Epoch Times<\/a> (emphasis ours),<\/em><\/p>\n

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is rescinding a 1998 interpretation of a law that allowed illegal immigrants to access certain government-funded programs,<\/strong> the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) said on July 10.<\/p>\n

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. testifies on Capitol Hill on May 14, 2025. Madalina Vasiliu\/The Epoch Times<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

The health secretary is rescinding the interpretation of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA),<\/strong> a law that said illegal immigrants cannot obtain \u201cfederal public benefits.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 1998 interpretation by the HHS said<\/a> the law\u2019s definition of benefits \u201cdoes not provide sufficient guidance for benefit providers\u201d and that HHS was stepping in \u201cto facilitate compliance\u201d with a requirement in the law for providers to verify a person\u2019s qualifications for benefits.<\/p>\n

It said that certain programs, including Head Start, which provides child care for lower-income families, were accessible to illegal immigrants.<\/strong><\/p>\n

That interpretation improperly narrowed the scope of the law, letting illegal immigrants access programs that lawmakers intended only for Americans and qualified immigrants, such as immigrants granted asylum, HHS said<\/a> on Thursday.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor too long, the government has diverted hardworking Americans\u2019 tax dollars to incentivize illegal immigration,\u201d Kennedy said. \u201cToday\u2019s action changes that\u2014it restores integrity to federal social programs, enforces the rule of law, and protects vital resources for the American people.\u201d<\/p>\n

The updated policy applies the definition of federal public benefit in the law.<\/p>\n

The statute defines the benefits as \u2018\u201cany grant, contract, loan, professional license, or commercial license\u201d provided to an individual,<\/strong> as well as \u201cany retirement, welfare, health, disability, public or assisted housing, postsecondary education, food assistance, unemployment benefit, or any other similar benefit for which payments or assistance are provided to an individual, household, or family eligibility unit.\u201d<\/p>\n

Head Start is among the programs included in the updated and expanded list of classified \u201cFederal public benefits\u201d under the PRWORA, HHS said on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

In addition to Head Start, HHS is including about a dozen other programs that were previously excluded. Among them are the Community Services Block Grant, the Projects for Assistance in Transition from Homelessness Grant Program, and the Title X Family Planning Program.<\/p>\n

HHS cited its change as stemming from a February executive order<\/a> from President Donald Trump<\/strong>, which directed officials to identify government-funded programs that \u201ccurrently permit illegal aliens to obtain any cash or non-cash public benefit\u201d and to then align those programs with the PRWORA.<\/p>\n

\u201cTitle IV of the PRWORA states that it is national policy that \u2018aliens within the Nation\u2019s borders not depend on public resources to meet their needs,\u2019 and that \u2018it is a compelling government interest to remove the incentive for illegal immigration provided by the availability of public benefits.\u2019 But in the decades since the passage of the PRWORA, numerous administrations have acted to undermine the principles and limitations directed by the Congress through that law,\u201d Trump wrote at the time.<\/p>\n

A notice on the HHS update said<\/a> people have 30 days after it is formally published to submit comments. The notice has not yet been formally published.<\/p>\n

HHS said in the notice that it would apply the updated interpretation immediately because \u201cany delay would be contrary to the public interest and fail to address the ongoing emergency at the Southern Border of the United States.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Department of Education on Thursday said<\/a> it was rescinding the 1998 interpretation of the PRWORA that allowed illegal immigrants to access federal education benefits, while the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, part of HHS, previously said<\/a> it would increase oversight to make sure states did not pay for health care for illegal immigrants, citing Trump\u2019s order and the PRWORA.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Tyler Durden<\/a><\/span>
\nFri, 07\/11\/2025 – 18:05<\/span><\/p>\n

\u200bhttps:\/\/www.zerohedge.com\/political\/rfk-jr-bans-illegal-immigrants-government-funded-programs<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

RFK Jr. Bans Illegal Immigrants From Government-Funded Programs Authored by Zachary Stieber via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours), Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":1546592,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1546591","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","wpcat-1-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1546591","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1546591"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1546591\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1546592"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1546591"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1546591"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1546591"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}