Original Date Announced

The Department of Justice (DOJ) issued an Order of the Attorney General withdrawing a 2001 Order that had, to the fullest extent permitted by law, carved out certain types of government assistance from the category of federal public benefits that many noncitizens are ineligible for under the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (PRWORA). PRWORA generally excludes unauthorized noncitizens from federal public-benefits eligibility and institutes a five-year waiting period before authorized noncitizens are eligible for federal means-tested public benefits.

The new Order states that the Attorney General has determined that the 2001 Order was applied more broadly than PRWORA permits, allowing "unqualified" noncitizens "to receive public benefits for which they are not lawfully eligible." Under the new Order, no benefits will be exempt from PRWORA's immigration-status-related restrictions beyond those exempted by the statute itself. The Order states that to the extent noncitizens have relied on public benefits they were able to access because the benefits were exempt from PRWORA, those reliance interests are "significantly outweighed by the need to reduce the incentive for aliens to illegally migrate to the United States."

The Order was issued pursuant to Executive Order 14218, ‘‘Ending Taxpayer Subsidization of Open Borders,’’ directing agencies to identify federally-funded programs that permit unauthorized noncitizens "to obtain any cash or noncash public benefit, and, consistent with applicable law, take all appropriate actions to align such programs with the purpose of the Executive Order and applicable law," including PRWORA.

Trump 2.0 [ID #2208]

Subsequent Trump and Court Action

2025.11.19 Department of the Treasury General Counsel Memo - Status of the Refundable Portion of Certain Tax Credits as Federal Public Benefits

In response to EO 14218, the Treasury Department's General Counsel issued a memorandum affirming a 2020 decision holding that refunded portions of refundable income-tax credits, as a class, were benefits to taxpayers within the meaning of PRWORA. The 2020 opinion had also held that the Earned Income Tax Credit, Additional Child Tax Credit, and American Opportunity Tax Credit are public benefits under PRWORA. The memo adds the Premium Tax Credit and Saver's Match credit to the list of credits many noncitizens may be ineligible for under PRWORA and suggests that the same may be true of other refundable individual-income-tax credits not specifically listed.

Subsequent Trump and Court Action

2025.12.16 DOJ Memorandum Opinion for DHHS - Interpretation of “Federal Means-Tested Public Benefit” in the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996

The DOJ Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) issued an opinion for the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) advising HHS of DOJ's changed legal interpretation of the phrase "Federal means-tested public benefit" in PRWORA.

In 1997, HHS and the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) interpreted "Federal means-tested benefit" to apply only to benefits administered under mandatory federal-spending programs, thereby preserving authorized noncitizens' access to benefits administered under discretionary programs. Since 1997, DOJ has found this interpretation permissible.

The new OLC opinion rejects that 1997 interpretation and determines that "Federal means-tested public benefit" applies to "any federal public benefit for which the eligibility of an individual, household, or family eligibility unit for benefits, or the amount of such benefits, or both, are determined on the basis of the income, resources, or financial need of the individual, household, or unit—regardless of the funding sources for that federal public benefit." The new interpretation will prevent some authorized noncitizens, including lawful permanent residents, from accessing benefits like Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), Medicaid, Supplemental Security Income (SSI), and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) for five years after entry.