Overview

• On Sept. 10, U.S. District Judge Mary McElroy issued a preliminary injunction preventing the Education, Justice, HHS and Labor departments from enforcing the new policy in the plaintiff states.
• The case stems from July directives instructing states to deny certain immigrants access to federally funded services, which officials said were meant to carry out a Trump executive order limiting benefits to “unqualified aliens.”
• The paused rules would have extended status checks to programs such as suicide hotlines, mental health and substance use services, homeless and domestic violence shelters, adult schools and Head Start.
• In court, McElroy questioned the practicality of verifying every participant’s status, calling the approach a potential unfunded mandate on states and service providers.
• California joined 20 other states and Washington, D.C., in the lawsuit, as local leaders report people avoiding services out of fear and a Santa Clara County official warns verification is infeasible and risks public health.