Attorney General Tong Files Lawsuit to Block Federal Restrictions on Public Benefits

Press Releases

07/21/2025

Attorney General Tong Files Lawsuit to Block Federal Restrictions on Public Benefits

(Hartford, CT) — Attorney General William Tong today joined a coalition of 20 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, workforce development programs, domestic violence shelters, mental health and substance use care, disaster relief programs, and Community Health Centers. Attorney General Tong 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.

“Cutting off access to programs which provide vital health and education services to children and families in Connecticut is cruel and deeply destructive. All individuals - regardless of immigration status - who rely on these longstanding services will feel pain if these programs suddenly disappear. The most basic responsibility of any government is to protect and aid its residents. When you deny access to affordable community-based healthcare, when you deny access to crucial early childhood education programs, and when you deny access to mental health services, you are abdicating that responsibility and needlessly putting lives in danger. We cannot and will not let the Trump Administration get away with this,” said Attorney General Tong.

“The Trump Administration’s cruel and inhumane hostility to our immigrant neighbors knows no bounds. We want all our residents to be able to send their children to school, to be able to access life-saving healthcare services, and to be able get help in a time of crisis for themselves and their families. This lawsuit is critical to fighting back against the Trump Administration’s onslaught against our immigrant community and to ensuring that all our residents can access these services. I want to thank Attorney General Tong for once again leading the way in fighting for and defending our residents,” said Justin Elicker, Mayor of New Haven.

“At Fair Haven Community Health Care, we believe health care is a basic human right. We are grateful to Attorney General Tong for his leadership, not only on behalf of our community, but for all Connecticut residents, in working to ensure that care remains accessible to all,” said Suzanne Lagarde, Chief Executive Officer at Fair Haven Community Health Care.

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.

These new directives are already causing major disruptions and putting state programs in impossible positions. 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.

In Connecticut, tens of millions of dollars’ worth of funding is at risk. Connecticut’s nine Community Action Agencies, which run Head Start, Meals on Wheels, food pantries, and a variety of other anti-poverty, employment, and training services, currently receive roughly $9 million each year in Community Services Block Grant (CSBG) funding. These agencies could potentially be forced to shut down while they attempt to navigate these new guidelines for verifying immigration status. This means putting the education of more than 5,000 children enrolled at Head Start programs in Connecticut and the more than 100,000 Connecticut families served by Community Action Agencies each year at risk.

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 Tong 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, Hawai’i, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Vermont, Wisconsin, and the District of Columbia.

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Media Contact:

Elizabeth Benton
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