Benefits Blocked

The Department of Health and Human Services on Thursday banned illegal immigrants from accessing the agency’s taxpayer-funded benefits.

Since 1998, HHS has interpreted the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 to let illegal immigrants use certain federal public benefits, according to the department. On Thursday, HHS announced that it has formally rescinded the interpretation that began under the Clinton administration.

“For too long, the government has diverted hardworking Americans’ tax dollars to incentivize illegal immigration,” HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., said in a statement on Thursday. “Today’s action changes that—it restores integrity to federal social programs, enforces the rule of law, and protects vital resources for the American people.”

The federal public benefits that illegal immigrants will no longer have access to include Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinics; Community Mental Health Services Block Grant; Community Services Block Grant (CSBG); Head Start; Health Center Program; Health Workforce Programs not otherwise previously covered (including grants, loans, scholarships, payments, and loan repayments); Mental Health and Substance Use Disorder Treatment, Prevention, and Recovery Support Services Programs administered by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration; Projects for Assistance in Transition from Homelessness Grant Program; Substance Use Prevention, Treatment, and Recovery Services Block Grant; Title IV-E Educational and Training Voucher Program; Title IV-E Kinship Guardianship Assistance Program; Title IV-E Prevention Services Program; and Title X Family Planning Program.