DOJ says states have to report undocumented immigrants to get federal funding

The Justice Department issued a new legal interpretation on Wednesday in an attempt to push every state in the country to report undocumented immigrants living in their communities and advance President Donald Trump’s mass deportation plan.

The department’s Office of Legal Counsel, which advises the Attorney General, said that when states accept federal funds to assist low-income families — through the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families and the Supplemental Security Income programs — they’re obligated to report anyone who’s not lawfully present in the U.S. to the Department of Homeland Security, according to its new legal opinion.

The reporting requirement would extend to the entire state government, not just the agencies administering TANF and SSI benefits, according to the opinion.

Every state in the country receives federal funding to provide financial assistance through both programs — which are among the nation’s largest safety net programs for low-income families, elderly residents and disabled people.

The Office of Legal Counsel said it reinterpreted a Clinton-era opinion from 1998 that required only the specific state agencies tasked with overseeing TANF or SSI programs to share information federal immigration authorities.

“States will not face retroactive penalties for past reliance on the 1998 interpretation,” the DOJ said in a news release Wednesday, but it expects states to abide by the new opinion in the future.

It’s likely that certain states, especially those that are led by Democrats, will challenge the new legal interpretation in court.

State attorneys general in several states have already pushed back on prior attempts from the Trump administration to force local agencies to share information regarding immigration status with the federal government alongside other immigration enforcement efforts.

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