Politics
DOJ directs states receiving welfare funds to report undocumented immigrants across all state agencies
A new Office of Legal Counsel opinion overturns a 1998 policy, tying federal funding for TANF and SSI to statewide immigration reporting.
The short version
- The Department of Justice issued an Office of Legal Counsel opinion requiring states participating in TANF and SSI to report known undocumented immigrants across their entire state government, rather than solely through specific welfare agencies.
- The decision overturns a 1998 Clinton-era interpretation and also lowers the threshold for when an agency is deemed to know an individual is undocumented.
- Non-compliant jurisdictions risk losing federal funding, which includes more than $16.4 billion in annual TANF grants across all 50 states, Washington, D.C., and several territories.
- The policy will apply forward-looking and not retroactively, though it remains to be seen whether state attorneys general will mount legal challenges.
Key facts
- The Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel issued a legal opinion concluding that the 1996 welfare reform statute requires any state accepting TANF or SSI funds to report known undocumented immigrants to the Department of Homeland Security across all state component agencies.[CNBC · The Guardian]
- The guidance replaces a 1998 Clinton administration opinion that had confined the reporting mandate strictly to the specific state welfare agencies administering the federal funds.[CNBC · The Guardian]
- Deputy Assistant Attorney General Joshua Craddock, who authored the opinion, wrote that earlier legal reasoning was flawed and determined that states cannot avoid reporting by requiring formal legal adjudications instead of readily available information.[The Guardian]
- Assistant Attorney General T. Elliot Gaiser defended the policy, asserting that accepting TANF obligations requires reporting unauthorized residents and that federal funds should reinforce borders.[CNBC · The Guardian]
- The policy affects all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and multiple U.S. territories, putting more than $16.4 billion in annual federal TANF grant funding at risk for non-compliant jurisdictions.[CNBC]
- The Justice Department specified that the new interpretation applies proactively and will not be enforced retroactively against prior agreements.[CNBC · The Guardian]
What remains uncertain
- It is not yet known whether states or advocacy groups will file legal challenges against the DOJ's new statutory interpretation.[CNBC]