The Department of Justice’s Office of Legal Counsel (DOJ OLC) withdrew its 1998 interpretation of section 404 of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA). The DOJ OLC concluded that section 404 of PRWORA requires all component agencies of a participating state, not just the agency administering the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) or the Supplemental Security Income program (SSI), to report individuals the state knows are unlawfully present. The DOJ OLC reasoned that “State” refers to the entire sovereign entity and that these reporting duties are valid conditions attached to federal TANF and SSI funding. The DOJ OLC characterized those reporting duties as conditions Congress attached to federal funding, and concluded that the conditions provide clear notice, are not impermissibly coercive, and are sufficiently related to the purposes of the federal benefits programs. In terms of relatedness, the DOJ OLC describes the relatedness requirement as a relatively “low bar,” and so a condition attached to federal funds need only relate to the federal interest in the overall program, not specifically to the activities of the particular state agency being required to comply. As a result, an agency could encounter someone who has never sought TANF or SSI, yet DOJ OLC would still treat immigration reporting about that individual relevant to those programs. This interpretation resembles a general immigration enforcement condition attached to welfare funding, rather than a condition governing administration of the funded program. The DOJ OLC’s new interpretation applies prospectively. Importantly, this is a legal interpretation and not a new judicial holding.
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