In a new hit to the national education system, one of President Donald Trump’s recent executive orders – which went into effect July 14, 2025 – affects the Head Start program, a program that provides various services such as health and education to low-income families. This move may prevent undocumented immigrants from qualifying for federally funded preschool programs, and will have an immediate effect in states like Wisconsin. The U.S. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) said the executive order changes the interpretation of a law passed by Bill Clinton that authorized undocumented families to participate in certain federally funded education programs. Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, noted that the Clinton-era legislation “has diverted hardworking Americans’ tax dollars to incentivize illegal immigration.”
In Wisconsin, Head Start programming serves between 13,000 and 16,000 families per year. And a Childhood Arrival program protects children that entered the country illegally from deportation, and was initiated under the Obama administration. It is a safeguard for approximately 119,000 students. If Trump continues to change such policies, the education of many young people is at risk nationwide.
The legislation Trump’s executive order targets was first introduced under the Clinton administration, and was later expanded by Barack Obama. According to a Fact Sheet published by the U.S. Department of Education, all children are entitled to equal access to education regardless of their parents' heritage. In addition to this, schools are legally obligated not to force undocumented families to pay tuition due to a landmark case, Plyler v. Doe, where the 14th Amendment was extended to include such families. There have been multiple attempts to counter this case, such as Proposition 184, which passed in 1994, and in the 2006 Illinois school mishap, which both attempted to stop illegal immigrants from entering educational institutions.
Trump and those who oppose these programs argue that they waste taxpayers' money, as a large portion of state tax income is used to fund public education. Nationally, K-12 education is funded mostly through state income, with around 8 percent coming from federal programs. However, many federal funds are reserved for specific programs, like Special Education and Childhood Arrival programs. However, since his inauguration in Jan. of this year, President Trump has insisted that the Department of Education is a misuse of taxpayer money, and he has worked to disband it, which may pose severe consequences for immigrant families who are dependent on federal funded programs for their education.
With a budget of $238 billion, Title 1 – the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 – funds schools that serve low-income students. Northwestern University experts have argued that low-income students, in particular, would be "devastated" with the changes implemented by Trump’s executive order.
The benefit of providing education for undocumented immigrants centers on economic opportunity. If a huge inflow of immigrants is not educated, there will be more low-skilled workers, squandering economic opportunity both for them and for the nation. In a paper written by the National Academies, low-skilled immigrants would also contribute less to public funds – generated by tax inflow – which would reduce their positive economic impact. In an analysis conducted by the American Community Survey, which covers the years between 2010- 2012, the education level of immigrants has steadily increased over time. Half of immigrants in 1970 did not have a high school degree, whereas in 2012, this number had increased to 38 percent, rising for both men and women.
Tarek Hassan, an Economist from Boston University, recently conducted a study that shows that immigrants improve economies through innovation and increasing wages, conflicting with Trump’s position that once immigrants enter the United States, they will hurt or take the jobs of Americans. By using this fear of unwanted competition, especially during this turbulent economic conditions leading up to the Nov. 2024 elections, Trump was able to rally widespread support for his anti-immigrant policies.
A 2022 analysis from the American Immigration Council discovered that immigrants generated $1.6 trillion in economic activity that year – the most recent data available. In terms of government tax revenue, immigrants contributed more than $579 billion in local, state, and federal taxes in 2022. The Congressional Budget Office predicts that this could reduce the U.S. federal budget deficit by around $897 billion over the next decade.
Overall, growing anti-immigrant sentiment – and the President’s recent attempts to limit immigrants’ access to education – may spell trouble for the economic progress of every American, amidst an already-struggling U.S. economy.