The Department of Health and Human Services, under the leadership of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., has declared a prohibition on illegal immigrants accessing the agency’s benefits funded by taxpayers.
Since 1998, the Department of Health and Human Services has interpreted the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 to permit illegal immigrants to access certain federal public benefits, as stated by the agency.
This week, HHS announced that it has formally revoked this interpretation, which was established during the Clinton administration.
HHS Secretary Kennedy remarked in a statement on Thursday, “For too long, the government has redirected the tax dollars of hardworking Americans to encourage illegal immigration. Today’s action alters that—it reinstates integrity to federal social programs, upholds the rule of law, and safeguards essential resources for the American populace.”
According to Just the News: “The federal public benefits that illegal immigrants will no longer be able to access include Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinics; Community Mental Health Services Block Grant; Community Services Block Grant (CSBG); Head Start; Health Center Program; Health Workforce Programs not otherwise previously covered (including grants, loans, scholarships, payments, and loan repayments); Mental Health and Substance Use Disorder Treatment, Prevention, and Recovery Support Services Programs administered by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration; Projects for Assistance in Transition from Homelessness Grant Program; Substance Use Prevention, Treatment, and Recovery Services Block Grant; Title IV-E Educational and Training Voucher Program; Title IV-E Kinship Guardianship Assistance Program; Title IV-E Prevention Services Program; and Title X Family Planning Program.”
Last month, Senator John Fetterman (D-Pa.) expressed that the Democratic Party mishandled the critical issue of border security during President Biden’s administration by permitting millions of migrants to enter the country over the last four years, thereby providing Republicans with a significant campaign issue.
Fetterman criticized his party’s stance on immigration and border enforcement during a debate with Pennsylvania Republican Senator Dave McCormick, which took place at the Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate and was broadcast on Fox Nation.
“That’s a mistake that our party made, and that’s the border,” Fetterman stated during an interview with “Fox News Sunday” anchor Shannon Bream, who moderated the debate co-hosted by the Orrin G. Hatch Foundation.
Fetterman expressed his support for the approximately $150 billion included in President Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” designed to secure the U.S.-Mexico border and enhance immigration enforcement nationwide, as reported by WAVY-TV.
“I absolutely support those kinds of investments to make our border secure,” he remarked, admitting, “I’ve lost some support in my party” for adopting that viewpoint.
“I believed the border was extremely important, and our party did not manage the border effectively. Consider the statistics — 260,000, 300,000 individuals arriving at our borders,” he noted, referring to the daily average of migrants illegally entering the U.S. during the Biden administration.
“That’s approximately the population of Pittsburgh. Now, that’s unacceptable, and that’s a national security concern, and that’s chaos,” he continued, further pointing out that the population of the Pennsylvania city was around 303,000 in 2023.
The Congressional Budget Office indicated last year that the annual net migration during the Biden administration averaged 2.4 million individuals from 2021 to 2023. “We can’t pretend we can manage 300,000 individuals arriving every month,” Fetterman stated, according to WAVY.
McCormack responded to Fetterman’s remarks by highlighting that the influx of migrants entering the U.S. illegally during Biden’s presidency is approximately equal to the total population of Pennsylvania.
“When you examine the statistics … over the past four years of the Biden administration, we have effectively added the population of Pennsylvania, which stands at 13 million individuals, in terms of illegal immigrants entering our nation,” he stated.
In contrast, President Donald Trump campaigned on a platform of enforcing a mass deportation strategy, which has often been obstructed by leftist organizations and Democratic attorneys general who have filed lawsuits to impede his initiatives.
Considering this, for the first time in almost twenty years of inquiries, a prominent polling organization revealed in June that a majority of voters feel the nation is progressing in the “right direction” under Trump’s policies.