Trump Order Perpetuates Lies About Immigrant Safety Net Eligibility, Attempts to Stir Fear

EL PASO, TEXAS — Last night, Donald Trump signed an executive order directing all federal agencies to identify programs that allow people who are undocumented to access any federally-funded health and social services and to take actions to deny access to those services. People who are undocumented qualify for very few federal public benefits, and access to these limited benefits is authorized by federal law.

While a legal analysis of the order will take time, it appears to have the intent of threatening funding authorized under federal law for hospitals, schools, and entire industries and communities. And it appears to give partisan political appointees the authority to override the agencies responsible under federal law for administering a wide range of federal programs. However, the order does little to change the already narrow access to public benefits by people who are undocumented, and it has no immediate effect.

The order notes that people who are undocumented do not qualify for most safety net programs, yet it repeats past lies by Trump to the contrary. The nonpartisan health policy think tank KFF refuted similar “false claims” and “misinformation” by Trump and JD Vance last fall.

Responding to the executive order, the Protecting Immigrant Families coalition (PIF) released the following statement from its director, Adriana Cadena.

“Trump’s order is designed to terrify people in immigrant families and their communities. The order does not change eligibility for federal safety net programs. It does not deny people in immigrant families, many of whom are American citizens, access to health and social services available through those programs. But it does invite partisan political manipulation of federal funding decisions to serve Trump’s racist and xenophobic agenda. Little wonder that a White House led by a convicted felon treats the law of the land as a political weapon.”