By Ahmed Aboulenein
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The Trump administration is widening its interpretation of a law banning most immigrants living in the United States from receiving federal public benefits to include 13 new categories of programs including Head Start preschool programs for low-income children.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said on Thursday it was rescinding an almost three-decade-old policy that identified 31 programs as “federal public benefits” and interpreting the term more loosely to include more programs, bringing the total to 44.
“For too long, the government has diverted hardworking Americans’ tax dollars to incentivize illegal immigration,” said Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
The move is part of President Donald Trump’s wide immigration crackdown.
The administration says its policies target immigrants living in the country illegally but has implemented several affecting permanent residents and others present legally.
By law, most immigrants already do not qualify for programs designated “federal public benefits” like Medicaid and Social Security.
The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 defined legal permanent residents, people granted asylum, and other categories of immigrants as “qualified” and barred them from major benefits programs for five years.
It defined all other immigrants including those living in the country illegally as well as those on temporary visas like students or foreign workers, as “not qualified” and banned them from enrolling in most programs altogether.
The law did not define what programs count as “federal public benefits” and therefore included in the restrictions; however, leaving it to federal agencies administering benefits to determine.
HHS issued a notice interpreting the law in 1998 which listed 31 programs including Medicaid, the Children’s Health Insurance Program, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, Foster Care, Adoption Assistance, Child Care and Development Fund, and Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program.
The department said on Thursday that interpretation improperly extended some benefits to immigrants living in the country illegally. The new policy, which takes effect as soon as it is published in the Federal Register but is subject to a 30-day public comment period, adds 13 more categories of programs.
Aside from Head Start, those include various grants or programs for substance use recovery and prevention, the Title X Family Planning Program, health workforce programs, and projects for helping people transition from homelessness.
HHS said the new list was not exhaustive and that it would issue further guidance for the affected programs.
(Reporting by Ahmed Aboulenein; Editing by Richard Chang)
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