The Trump administration will restrict immigrants in the country illegally from enrolling in Head Start , a federally funded preschool program, the Department of Health and Human Services announced Thursday. The move is part of a broad effort to limit access to federal benefits for immigrants who lack legal status.
People in the country illegally are largely ineligible for federal public benefits such as food stamps, student loans and financial aid for higher education. But for decades they have been able to access some community-level programs such as Head Start and community health centers.
HHS said it will reclassify those programs as federal public benefits, excluding immigrants in the country illegally from accessing them. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said the changes were part of a larger effort to protect American citizens' interests.
"For too long, the government has diverted hardworking Americans' tax dollars to incentivize illegal immigration," Kennedy said in a statement. "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."
A spokesperson for the Administration for Children and Families, which administers Head Start , said that eligibility will be determined based on the child's immigration status.