New Jersey Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin has secured a preliminary injunction blocking the Trump Administration’s attempt to cripple essential health, education, and social service programs for low-income families. In July, Attorney General Platkin joined 20 other attorneys general in challenging the federal government’s reinterpretation of a decades-old law governing access to social services. A federal court has granted the coalition’s request for a preliminary injunction, blocking sweeping new rules that threatened to significantly impair programs like Head Start, Title X family planning clinics, food banks, domestic violence shelters, adult education, and community health centers.
“We have blocked yet another attempt by the Trump Administration to harm New Jersey – this time trying to place unlawful restrictions on substance abuse treatment programs, Head Start, soup kitchens, and much more,” said Attorney General Platkin. “We prevailed in court for a simple reason. The President cannot ignore the laws of our nation and the Constitution. We will always stand up for New Jerseyans—especially when the federal government’s illegal actions threaten lifesaving services.”
Earlier this summer, four federal agencies – the U.S. Departments of Health and Human Services (HHS), Education (ED), Labor (DOL), and Justice (DOJ) – issued a coordinated set of directives abruptly redefining longstanding policy under the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA). For nearly 30 years, Republican and Democratic administrations alike interpreted PRWORA to allow states to offer vital public health, education, and anti-poverty programs without first verifying immigration status. The Trump Administration’s sudden reversal would have forced states to impose immigration status verification on countless services, threatening catastrophic funding losses and program closures.
The court’s decision halts implementation of those new directives in the plaintiff states while litigation proceeds, ensuring that millions of families can continue to access critical services without fear of denial or disruption. With this ruling, the court determined that the administration likely violated the Administrative Procedure Act and the Constitution by issuing sweeping new mandates without lawful rulemaking, grossly misreading PRWORA, and failing to consider the devastating impacts on states and communities.
In New Jersey, affected programs included community mental health clinics and substance-abuse prevention and treatment programs; programs that help kids, including Head Start, career and technical education funding for students, and youth job development programs; and community organizations that serve those in crisis – such as domestic violence intervention programs and soup kitchens.
Joining Attorney General Platkin in this lawsuit are the attorneys general of New York, Washington, Rhode Island, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawai’i, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, Wisconsin, and the District of Columbia.
