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Boston Globe
10-07-2025
- Politics
- Boston Globe
Head Start will be cut off for immigrants without legal status, Trump administration says
Advertisement '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.' Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up 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. Requiring proof of immigration status would likely create fear and confusion among families seeking to enroll their children, said Yasmina Vinci, executive director of the National Head Start Association. 'This decision undermines the fundamental commitment that the country has made to children and disregards decades of evidence that Head Start is essential to our collective future,' Vinci said. Advertisement The changes are part of a multi-agency announcement rescinding an interpretation of federal law dating to former President Bill Clinton's administration, which had allowed immigrants in the country illegally to access some programs. The Education Department, the Department of Agriculture and the Department of Labor announced similar changes affecting a range of workforce development and adult education programs. The changes will affect community health centers that immigrants rely on for a wide range of services, said Shelby Gonzales, vice president of immigration policy at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. 'People depend on those services to get cancer treatment, to get ongoing maintenance for a variety of different health needs,' she said. Students in the country illegally will no longer be eligible to participate in postsecondary career and technical education programs or adult education programs, the Education Department announced. The department also issued a notice to grant recipients to ensure programs receiving federal money do not provide services to immigrants without legal status. Education advocates said the decision would harm young people who have grown up in this country. EdTrust Vice President Augustus Mays said the intention appears to be creating fear among immigrant communities. 'Policies like this don't exist in a vacuum,' Mays said. 'They are rooted in a political agenda that scapegoats immigrants and uses fear to strip rights and resources from the most vulnerable among us.' Head Start was started six decades ago as part of Democratic President Lyndon B. Johnson's War on Poverty. It operates in all 50 states, providing preschool, developmental therapy and child care for families who are homeless or are in poverty. Associated Press writer Cheyanne Mumphrey in Phoenix contributed to this report. Advertisement
Axios
28-06-2025
- Politics
- Axios
Job Corps shutdown would displace thousands of young trainees
The Trump administration's move to shutter the nation's largest job training program for low-income youth has been blocked — at least for now — by a federal judge. Why it matters: Job Corps, which served over 29,000 students this year, has long been a lifeline for low-income youth — especially in underserved communities — offering job training, housing, and a path forward. The program was set to shutter June 30. Wednesday's federal court decision temporarily halts those closures, offering reprieve for students, staff and cities nationwide. Driving the news: U.S. District Judge Andrew Carter ruled that the administration lacked congressional authority to abruptly terminate the 60-year-old program, issuing a preliminary injunction while the lawsuit proceeds. What they're saying: The National Job Corps Association said Wednesday's preliminary injunction "is a lifeline." "It returns some stability to students who were displaced — some living in shelters — and to the communities that rely on Job Corps for skilled workers." State of play: Job Corps centers were set to close include locations in cities with large Black populations— like Cleveland, Gary, Miami, New Orleans, and Brooklyn —where the program has been an essential resource for underserved youth. Zoom in: Job Corps, though created under Lyndon B. Johnson's War on Poverty, isn't just a relic of the past. It's still shaping lives and has trained more than two million youth over six decades. Former students have gone on to become electricians, nurses and small business owners. Case in point: George Foreman, one of its earliest success stories, once said the program " saved my life." The big picture: The Trump administration's plan to shutter contractor-run Job Corps centers by June 30 has been temporarily blocked by a federal judge. The lawsuit argues the closures are illegal without congressional approval. Zoom out: The cutbacks mirror broader federal rollbacks on diversity initiatives, education equity, and youth mental health investments under Trump 2.0. The latest: Job Corps closures are hitting major cities hard — including the Atlanta area, Detroit, Chicago, Florida, New York and the Bay Area — where thousands of students ages 16–24 rely on the program for both job training and housing. Some were left scrambling after losing federal contracts; centers abruptly shut their doors. What they're saying: Randi Weingarten, head of the American Federation of Teachers, one of the country's largest unions, said the AFT is working with government, labor, and industry to expand high-quality, paid apprenticeships — a critical pathway for the 40% of students who don't attend college. She called the Trump administration's move to pause Job Corps "cruel and destabilizing," adding: "If you care about giving young people a shot at a better life, you don't kick them out on the street." "We urge the administration: Do not turn your backs on these students." The other side: The Labor Department says the program is underperforming, citing a $213M deficit, low graduation rates, and serious safety issues as reasons for the pause. A spokesperson told Axios the department is "working closely with the Department of Justice to evaluate and comply with the temporary restraining order." "We remain confident that our actions are consistent with the law," they said. Between the lines: The Trump administration has promoted rising wages for blue-collar workers. But critics say gutting Job Corps — a longstanding training pipeline — undercuts that progress and disproportionately harms Black and Brown youth. Marcus W. Robinson, a DNC spokesperson, said the program has long been a lifeline for young Black men. In 2024, nearly 50% of Job Corps participants were Black youth, according to federal data. "Trump's repeated attempts to slash it aren't just policy choices — they're attacks on Black progress," he said. "If he gets his way, another pathway to opportunity will be closed — and that seems to be the goal."
Yahoo
06-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Job Corps closings raise question of why
U.S. Rep. Bobby Scott, D-Virginia, asks audience members wearing "Save Job Corps" shirts to stand during a hearing at which U.S. Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer addressed the U.S. House Committee on Education and Workforce on Capitol Hill, June 5, 2025, in Washington, D.C. Scott was highlighting the Job Corps, which is funded through the Department of Labor, and has been targeted for elimination by President Donald Trump's 2026 budget proposal. (Photo by) The budget ax wielded by DOGE and the Trump administration fell on Job Corps last week, when the administration announced it was closing 99 of the program's 123 centers across the country. Job Corps, which began as part of the War on Poverty in 1964, provides free education, job training and a place to live for low-income youth ages 16 to 24. The closings shutter three rural Kentucky locations that serve over 500 students: the Carl D. Perkins Job Corps Center in Prestonsburg, the Earle C. Clements Job Corps Academy in Morganfield and the Muhlenberg Job Corps Center in Greenville. But why is Job Corps being terminated? Doing so harms the same 'forgotten men and women of our country' that the administration says are its priority. Job Corps helps young people who are receiving public assistance or are homeless, in foster care, or qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. In 2017, 29% of the youth enrolling had a disability and 65% had left high school before earning a diploma. Trump shutdown of Job Corps will leave 'big void' in this rural Kentucky place So is Job Corps being shuttered to 'promote work?' Far from it. The Kentucky centers were putting students on paths to becoming welders, computer technicians, certified nursing assistants, pharmacy techs, culinary arts employees, automotive mechanics and more. And just as importantly, Job Corps reaches those who face the biggest problems entering career-track employment. A recent report notes that Job Corps often draws from youth who have tried multiple times to earn a secondary or postsecondary credential but dropped out under the demands of low-wage jobs and financial, family or mental health challenges. The program's approach takes these students' monumental barriers into account. It is typically a residential program, eliminating the worries of food, housing and transportation. It also offers small living stipends and health care, counseling services, life skills training, and post-program help in transitioning to employment or additional education. Then maybe Job Corps is something our country just cannot afford? No one can say that with a straight face when Job Corps costs 0.02% of the federal budget while the administration is pushing tax cuts skewed to the wealthy that cost 400 times as much. Neither can anyone credibly claim that the program does not work. The most rigorous study of Job Corps to date found that it helped improve employment, earnings and education outcomes. Not every hardship-facing young person comes out a roaring success, particularly in an economy that produces far too few living wage jobs. But it is easy to find testimonials of Job Corps graduates in Facebook posts: 'This place picked me up when I was broken. It gave me a reason to wake up in the morning. It gave me back the pieces of myself I thought I'd lost forever. I started to believe I could become someone,' said Jessica Williams, a current Job Corps student in Prestonsburg. 'My 21 year old son is on the autism spectrum. He is currently on Medicaid and is learning Information Technology (IT) at the Morganfield, KY Earle C. Clements Job Corps training center. He is approximately half-way through his education there … Just last week, we had discussed his plan to finish his IT program, enter into the AI/Robotics program and then obtain his advanced education … He has long wanted to work in Cyber Security, but he is now devastated,' said Dale K. Hart. 'Tearing down Job Corps, a place where you learn stability and free trades … is absolutely mind boggling. I was at Muhlenberg Job Corps Center from 2015-2016, I met amazing people from all walks of life, seen people who were on their very last strand of hope make something of themselves years later,' said Keeley Staples. The young people in Job Corps, who have survived so many bumps in life, now face a new one. Many may lose hope and direction. Some will become homeless. And it is right to fear that cutting support for left-behind young people will further crowd our jails and juvenile detention centers and push up already obscene addiction rates. It is important to ask why the administration is announcing these and other harmful cuts. But a more pressing question is for all of us: will we let them happen? SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
05-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Trump shutdown of Job Corps will leave ‘big void' in this rural Kentucky place
Job Corps students load sandbags in Union County. (Provided) As torrential rains inundated Kentucky in April, Union County Judge-Executive Adam O'Nan needed labor to fill and distribute sandbags to protect homes and businesses from flooding. With a phone call, local students from the Earle C. Clements Job Corps center stepped up to the task. 'They loaded those bags for them and were a tremendous help,' O'Nan said. Now the hundreds of students and employees at the center in Union County will be scattering to uncertain futures after the Trump administration on May 29 announced that it would 'pause' Job Corps operations across the country. O'Nan, a Republican, said that would be a loss for his county. 'It really is difficult to measure the value because we're just so used to them being around, and not that we take them for granted, but they're just part of us,' O'Nan said. 'If, in fact, this is the end of Job Corps, that's just going to be a big void for us.' The abrupt halt would be an even bigger loss for the center's mostly low-income students who are feeling panic, anger and desperation about their futures, said Jonathan Brown, the finance and administration director for the Clements center in Union County. 'Either they have nowhere to go — they're homeless or house insecure, they don't have safe places to go — or they're just not done with their trade,' Brown said. 'I couldn't imagine going to college for two years, halfway done, and then my school closes and loses its accreditation and none of my classes count.' Brown said the contracts to run the center, including contracts for employees, are being cancelled with a deadline of June 30 to have students returned to their home states. Guidance from the U.S. Department of Labor states the department will cover the cost to send students back to their home states by the end of the month and connect them with other job training and educational opportunities. The Jobs Corps center in the county seat of Morganfield is one of dozens across the country — including two others in Kentucky in Floyd and Muhlenberg counties — funded by the federal government that have offered young people free training in a wide variety of career paths including culinary arts, welding, nursing, electrical work, diesel mechanics and more. Brown said the center is the second largest in the country in terms of students served. He said the center is contracted to serve over 1000 students, bringing in usually about 30-40 new students each week. He said about 275 employees serve those students. Created 61 years ago as a part of President Lyndon Johnson's War on Poverty, Job Corps enrolls people between the ages of 16 and 24 who are dealing with challenges such as poverty, homelessness, a disability or falling behind on reading and writing skills. In announcing the 'pause,' the Trump administration cited data from 2023 that it argues shows cost overruns and low graduation rates. But Brown, the Job Corps administrator in Union County, argues the April report from the Trump administration is largely misleading, cherry-picking data from 2023 when centers were still rebounding from the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. Brown also thinks the 'pause' of operations is essentially a closure. Brown said the headwinds for his center began to pick up months ago with various positions and departments being cut, but he became particularly troubled with the center's situation when enrollment of new students was halted in March. He said the Department of Labor stopped doing background checks for new students, essentially stopping the center from bringing in new students. Then in April, the department issued a report looking at graduation rates and the cost to graduate students from each center, stating that the average cost for each student at a center was a little over $80,000 and the average graduation rate from the centers was 38.6%. In early May, the Trump administration sent a budget request to Congress that eliminated funding for the Job Corps, calling it 'a failed experiment to help America's youth.' In testimony before Congress on May 15, Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer told lawmakers the president's budget request signaled a need to 'refocus' on 'where those dollars are going to have the outcome for the workforce.' On May 29, Chavez-DeRemer announced the 'pause' of Job Corps center operations, citing the report from April as evidence of the ineffectiveness of the Job Corps programs. 'Job Corps was created to help young adults build a pathway to a better life through education, training, and community,' Chavez-DeRemer said in a statement provided in a press release. 'However, a startling number of serious incident reports and our in-depth fiscal analysis reveal the program is no longer achieving the intended outcomes that students deserve. We remain committed to ensuring all participants are supported through this transition and connected with the resources they need to succeed as we evaluate the program's possibilities.' In Union County, Brown acknowledges there are 'inefficiencies' within Job Corps and that some centers perform better than others. But given the United States is the 'richest country in the history of the world,' he questioned why the federal government couldn't provide 'this small amount to give people that second chance.' An information sheet provided to the Lantern from the director of the Earle C. Clements center asserts the average graduation rate for Job Corps centers is higher than the average graduation rate for two-year community and technical colleges. The information sheet also asserts the average cost per student is lower, and comparable to community and technical colleges, when Job Corps enrollees who don't ultimately graduate are taken into account. The April report released by the Trump administration says the Earle C. Clements center has a graduation rate of 47% and a cost per enrollee of $67,713 in 2023, both figures better than the national average in the report. Job Corps' operations cost roughly $1.53 billion in fiscal year 2024, making up a small fraction of the $6.75 trillion of federal government spending that fiscal year. 'I wish it was a more nuanced look at how to make the program better to meet that national need to provide skilled labor while also serving disadvantaged youth,' said Brown. A Department of Labor spokesperson did not respond to several emails requesting comment about criticisms of its April report. Amanda Moore, the manager of Amanda's Floral and Gift Shop in Sturgis, said the loss of Job Corps in Union County 'is really going to impact our whole community.' Her relatively new business hosted two paid internships with Job Corps students, one of whom worked on revamping the store's website. 'It kind of gives those kids a chance to get out into the real world without some of the struggles that they have at home,' Moore said. 'Getting away from where they are and coming to the Job Corps Center and having a chance at life.' Job Corps students also put together a 'wonderful meal,' she said, for a local gathering called 'Derby Days' celebrating the running of the Kentucky Derby. 'All the Derby favorites: They made a virgin mint julep, all the cucumber sandwiches that you could eat,' Moore said. 'They put their heart and soul into all of that, and that was a big deal downtown here in Sturgis.' Brown, the finance and administration director for the local center, said the backgrounds of students can vary depending on what circumstances qualify them to enroll. It's not uncommon for students to show up with only a garbage bag of 'old, dirty clothes.' Finding meaning in helping those students is what has kept Brown, a Union County native, working at the center for 11 years, starting as a career counselor for students. He's loved the work since 'day one.' 'My whole job was about the student, whatever they needed to get through the program, get their credentials, get their high school diploma, get a good job,' Brown said. 'It's stressful and it's hard, but it's meaningful. And you can see it every single day — the meaning.' He believes Job Corps is unique from other educational opportunities because it provides young people a safe place, free of charge, to sleep, have regular meals and work on a career away from the challenges they left behind. To make sure these young people, he said, don't fall through the cracks. 'I don't know what a lot of this population will do. I don't know what options they really have,' Brown said.
Yahoo
30-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Labor Department to shutter Job Corps centers, including two in Georgia
Secretary of Labor Lori Chavez-DeRemer stands behind President Donald Trump after he signs executive orders in the Oval Office on April 23, 2025. Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick and Secretary of Education Linda McMahon look on. (Photo by) Job Corps centers in Albany and Brunswick are set to shut their doors by June 30 after the U.S. Department of Labor announced plans to suspend operations at nearly 100 locations nationwide. The Job Corps program dates back to 1964 and was created as part of President Lyndon B. Johnson's 'War on Poverty.' The program, which claims to be 'the largest nationwide residential career training program in the country,' works by providing low-income students ages 16 to 24 with housing, education, career training and employment assistance, primarily in industries like manufacturing, construction and health care. However, the program encountered serious hurdles during the COVID-19 pandemic, and currently faces a $140 million budget deficit that Department of Labor officials estimate could grow to $213 million by next year. The federal agency cited a report from April highlighting metrics like the average annual cost per student, average total costs per graduate and total violent crime rates. 'Job Corps was created to help young adults build a pathway to a better life through education, training, and community,' U.S. Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer said in a statement. 'However, a startling number of serious incident reports and our in-depth fiscal analysis reveal the program is no longer achieving the intended outcomes that students deserve.' In total, 99 centers that are run by contract agencies will be forced to close should the plan take effect. An additional 24 centers owned and operated by the U.S. Department of Agriculture will not be affected by the closures. Atlanta is home to the program's Region 3 office, overseeing centers across Georgia, Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee. The Department of Labor said it plans to arrange transportation back home for roughly 25,000 currently enrolled students, and to connect them with other educational and employment resources. It is unclear how many students across Georgia will be affected. Calls to the Atlanta-based Jobs Corps office were not answered and emails sent to two top officials received a bounce back message. Lawmakers in Congress were quick to push back against the sudden closures, citing a long history of bipartisan support for the program. 'The Job Corps program is the embodiment of a hand up and not a handout,' said U.S. Rep. Sanford Bishop, an Albany Democrat who co-chairs the bipartisan Congressional Job Corps Caucus. 'It provides workforce skills and training that empower participants to become self-sufficient and productive citizens. Today's foolish action by the White House and the United States Department of Labor to close the Job Corps program will shatter the dreams and aspirations of tens of thousands of promising students.' Critics of the closures, including the National Job Corps Association, have also argued that the data used to compile the report is misleading, since it focuses solely on metrics from 2023, a year when the program was still struggling to recover from pandemic-era hurdles that lowered enrollment and graduation numbers. Notably, this is not the first time President Donald Trump's administration has targeted the Job Corps program for closures. Sonny Purdue, the former Georgia governor who later served as Agriculture Secretary in the first Trump Administration and is now the chancellor of the Georgia Board of Regents, also attempted to shutter nine Job Corps centers and transfer an additional 16 centers to private contractors back in 2019. However, he quickly dropped the bid after encountering fierce congressional pushback — including from then-Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
