President Donald Trump’s administration has told states that it is restricting some social safety net funds that cover services including child care subsidies and cash assistance and job training for poor families with children.
The administration says the moves are designed to root out fraud as a result of reported problems, but five Democratic-led states are a special focus of its attention, and some of their leaders say children are being harmed for political reasons.
Those five states challenged the freeze in court Thursday, calling it an unconstitutional abuse of power and a “shoot first ask questions later” approach that ignores established government procedures.
Here’s a rundown of where the federal government says money is being withheld and what’s known about the impact.
The administration says it is holding up funds while inspecting fraud allegations
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said Tuesday that it has frozen money for California, Colorado, Illinois, Minnesota and New York in the Child Care and Development Fund, which subsidizes child care for 1.3 million children from low-income families; the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program, which provides cash assistance and job training; and the Social Services Block Grant.
Letters to the states say that the government “has reason to believe” each state “is illicitly providing illegal aliens” with benefits. They do not spell out reasons for the suspicions — or say why other states did not receive similar notices.
The administration told states to provide the names, Social Security numbers and other personally identifying details of the programs’ beneficiaries since at least 2022, plus information about subcontractors and program providers dating back to 2019. For the child care program, the government is requesting attendance records but without personal information for the children or their families.
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The Trump administration has pushed to collect and use similar information on beneficiaries of other government programs.
The states say in their lawsuit that they receive a total of more than $10 billion a year for the programs. They’re asking a court to order an end to the freeze, saying it has created immediate budget uncertainty.
New York officials say the money supports homeless shelters, adoption, child welfare investigations and other services — and the losses could create a budget hole of hundreds of millions this month.
“The Trump administration is notorious for making up a narrative which is false,” New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said Wednesday. “And this is one of those narratives that’s false. There is no evidence of fraud here in the State of New York. In fact, this is just making kids political pawns again.”
Ruth Friedman, a senior fellow at The Century Foundation who oversaw child care programs for President Joe Biden’s administration, said on a call with reporters Wednesday that some of the information could be a challenge to assemble because the federal government does not now require it.
Every state has at least some new hurdles to access child care money
The 45 other states also face a new requirement: To get distributions of their allotted child care funds through an online system, they must first verify enrollment and attendance at child care centers and submit “a strong justification for the use of funds that aligns with” the purpose of the program.
The administration told the states that it is “implementing strategies and program controls to identify fraud and ensure program integrity.” Similar “defend the spend” policies apply to some other federal money as a result of changes made last year by Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency. It was briefly required for the daycare dollars last year, but the government reversed course.
Friedman said it’s not clear exactly how much evidence the administration wants states to enter to receive funds.
Elliot Haspel, a senior fellow at Capita, a think tank that focuses on family issues, told reporters that even if states eventually get the money, delays could result in layoffs or closures at child care centers — and that would hurt families that pay the full cost for care as well as those who receive subsidies.
“You can create chaos very quickly,” he said, “and the harm may roll on the longer it happens.”
Minnesota has been told to provide information more urgently
Focus intensified around the federal government’s child care subsidy program after a pro-Trump influencer posted a video last month claiming that day care centers operated by Somali residents in Minneapolis had committed up to $100 million in fraud.
Conservative news and commentary outlets had already been amplifying earlier social service fraud allegations that involved Somali defendants. Seventy-eight people have been charged since 2022 — and 57 convicted — after federal prosecutors said the nonprofit group Feed Our Future stole $250 million from a program meant to feed children in need during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Minnesota officials told child care providers that their federal money is on hold, and that the administration told them to hand over records on child care providers, state oversight efforts and program finances by Friday.
In Tuesday’s letter notifying Minnesota that the social service block grants will be on hold, the administration asserted: “Your office has not demonstrated that the state has effective mechanisms in place to prevent fraud.”
Gov. Tim Walz has defended his state’s response and said his state is taking aggressive action to prevent further fraud.
This week, Walz, the 2024 Democratic vice presidential nominee and high-profile Trump critic, ended his campaign for a third term, saying he could not both serve as governor and run a campaign amid the partisan attacks over the claims.
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Associated Press journalists Anthony Izaguirre, Steve Karnowski, Trân Nguyễn, John O’Connor and Colleen Slevin contributed to this article.
