Attorney General Ellison sues to block federal restrictions on to public benefits
Restrictions target Head Start, Title X Clinics, community health centers, anti-poverty resources, and more
July 22, 2025 (SAINT PAUL) — Attorney General Ellison joined a coalition of 19 other attorneys general in suing the federal administration to stop its unlawful attempt to restrict access to critical health, education, and social service programs. Earlier this month, in a chaotic reversal of agency policy, the administration issued notices prohibiting state safety net programs from serving all residents, regardless of immigration status. The change threatens access to critical services like Head Start, Title X family planning, adult education, mental health care, and Community Health Centers. Attorney General Ellison and the coalition are asking the court to halt the new federal rules and act quickly to ensure continued access to some of the nation’s most crucial social services programs.
Starting on July 10, the U.S. Departments of Health and Human Services (HHS), Education (ED), Labor (DOL), and Justice (DOJ) issued a coordinated set of rules and guidance documents that reinterpret the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA). The agencies’ new interpretation restricts states from using federal funds to provide services to individuals who cannot verify immigration status – a major shift from long-standing federal practice under both Republican and Democratic administrations. The rules took effect immediately or with minimal notice and affect not only undocumented immigrants, but also some lawful visa holders and, in practice, even U.S. citizens who lack access to formal documentation.
“If someone is down on their luck and sleeping in the streets during a Minnesota winter, the right thing to do is to help get them to a shelter,” said Attorney General Keith Ellison. “Now, the Trump Administration is demanding that our state first verify their immigration status before we can offer aid in those life-threatening conditions. These restrictions on who can access public benefits are deeply cruel and they require state programs to verify immigration status when those programs may not be able to do so. This lawsuit argues that the federal government acted unlawfully by issuing these changes without following required procedures under the Administrative Procedure Act, and by misapplying PRWORA to entire programs rather than to individual benefits. These changes are wrong morally, legally, and practically, and I am taking the Trump Administration to court to block them.”
In Minnesota, one of the programs expected to be targeted by these changes funds the operation of shelters for homeless individuals, provides services for residents of those shelters, rapidly re-houses families to prevent them from becoming homeless, and more. Delivery time for some of these services, like emergency shelter during life-threatening weather conditions, can make the difference between life and death. Delaying these services to verify immigration status could have a devastating impact on recipients. Furthermore, given the transient nature of homelessness, many of the individuals served by this particular program do not have documentation of any kind.
These new directives are already causing major disruptions. Because the HHS, ED, and DOL rules took effect last week, state programs are now expected to comply immediately, despite having no infrastructure in place to do so. Most providers cannot implement dramatic regulatory changes overnight and, as a result, they now face a dramatic loss of federal funding. Many crucial state programs must now institute immigration verification measures – including Head Start, Title X Clinics, community health centers, anti-poverty resources, adult education programs, and critical mental health and substance use services – but some providers warn that they will not be able to change their practices no matter how much time and money they have to do so and therefore face closure.
These programs serve broad populations, including U.S. citizens, lawful residents, and new immigrants, and are not designed to collect or verify immigration status. Providers warn that the new rules could deter people from seeking help, lead to service cutoffs, and destabilize systems already stretched thin. Many of these programs, which prevent the spread of communicable disease or promote economic development, exist for the benefit and protection of the broader community, which will be harmed by the effects of the new guidance.
The lawsuit argues that the federal government acted unlawfully by issuing these changes without following required procedures under the Administrative Procedure Act, and by misapplying PRWORA to entire programs rather than to individual benefits. The changes also violate the Constitution’s Spending Clause by imposing new funding conditions on states without fair notice or consent.
The coalition is asking the court to declare the new rules unlawful, halt their implementation through preliminary and permanent injunctions, vacate the rules and restore the long-standing agency practice, and prevent the federal government from using PRWORA as a pretext to dismantle core safety net programs in the future.
Joining Attorney General Ellison in filing this lawsuit, which was led by New York Attorney General Letitia James, Washington Attorney General Nick Brown, and Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha, are the attorneys general of Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Hawai’i, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Vermont, and Wisconsin.
