The Justice Department moved Wednesday to require states to provide information on undocumented immigrants or lose federal funding for two key public assistance programs, issuing a sweeping revision of a long-standing legal opinion.
It’s the latest move by the Trump administration to force states to cooperate in the president’s aggressive immigration crackdown — this time, threatening to pull federal funding if they don’t turn over information on undocumented immigrants who they believe are residing in the country.
It stems from a new legal opinion from the Office of Legal Counsel stating that when a state chooses to participate in the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) and the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) programs — as all states do — they are required to report individuals who are illegally present in the United States to the Department of Homeland Security.
TANF provides cash assistance and other support to low-income households. SSI provides monthly payments to low-income senior citizens or people with disabilities.
The opinion, which the DOJ cast as a clarification of a previous opinion, applies to all agencies within a state, not just those that administer the programs. Previously, under a Clinton-era opinion from 1998, the reporting requirement was specific to state agencies administering TANF or SSI.
