Impact Fund & Co-Counsel Challenge New HHS Directive Excluding Families from Head Start Based on Immigration Status

Megan Flynn, Impact Fund Law Fellow

On July 14, 2025, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued a new directive that makes immigration status an eligibility requirement for Head Start for the first time in the program’s sixty-year history. One day later, Impact Fund and co-counsel  ACLU, Crowell & Moring LLP, and Feldesman Leifer LLP, who represent Head Start associations and parent advocacy groups in six states in a lawsuit challenging the Trump administration’s attacks on the Head Start program, moved to amend the complaint in that case to add claims based on this additional illegal action by HHS. On July 21, we filed a motion for a temporary restraining order to stop the Immigrant Exclusion Directive from going into effect.

In a statement issued the same day as the new Immigrant Exclusion Directive, the Trump Administration made clear that its intention is to “ensure enrollment in Head Start is reserved for American citizens from now on” in direct violation of the Head Start Act and the purpose of Congress in establishing the program to serve children in all communities.  HHS issued the Immigrant Exclusion Directive without following the required federal regulatory procedures. 

Head Start provides comprehensive early childhood education, including health, nutrition, and family services.

The Trump Administration estimates that the Immigrant Exclusion Directive excludes at least 500,000 children from Head Start, and we allege that the vague language of the Directive along with the Trump Administration’s “citizen-only” messaging will deter many more immigrant  families from seeking Head Start services.

The harm to children and families will extend even further because, as a result of the new exclusion, Head Start associations face declining enrollment and accompanying loss of funding, staff and teacher layoffs, and program closures. Losing access to Head Start will also make it harder for parents and caregivers to work, attend school, and support their families.

On August 5, the Court heard oral arguments on our motion for a temporary restraining order and our earlier-filed motion for a preliminary injunction, which asks the Court to stop the administration’s implementation of mass layoffs of Head Start staff and the ban on diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility within the Head Start program.