Trump Administration Actions Jeopardize Decades of Progress in Adult Education and Immigrant Integration
A move by the Trump administration to limit immigrants' use of federal programs stands to significantly destabilize the U.S. adult education system, which has helped millions of immigrant adults learn English and build foundational skills. In the process, this will harm the White House's stated desire to help immigrants learn English, build skills, and integrate into U.S. society, as this short read outlines.
While much attention has been paid to the impacts of the Trump administration’s effort to limit immigrants’ use of federally funded health, early education, and community services, it is far less widely understood that this move also stands to significantly destabilize the country’s adult education system. For decades, adult education programs have helped millions of immigrant adults learn English, integrate into their communities, build a range of foundational skills, and fill in-demand jobs.
In July 2025, the Department of Health and Human Services, the Department of Education, and three other federal agencies imposed new immigration-status restrictions on access to a wide range of federal public benefit and other programs by issuing new interpretations of a welfare law enacted in 1996. Where these restrictions previously mainly covered programs that provide cash benefits, such as Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), food assistance through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), or health coverage, such as Medicaid, the Trump administration now seeks to extend them to Head Start and an array of other educational and community service programs that have not historically been considered public benefit programs.
The administration’s inclusion of adult education in these new restrictions risks blocking or hindering access to programs that help immigrants of all legal statuses learn English, build skills, and integrate into American society—widely supported goals that the administration itself has publicly endorsed. Such programs typically have significant public support since they not only speed immigrants’ integration but also benefit local communities by supporting civic engagement, building social cohesion, and promoting vibrant local economies.
The Critical Role of Adult Education in Immigrant Integration
Adult education programs serve individuals without a high school diploma or equivalent as well as those who need support developing foundational skills such as digital literacy, numeracy, or proficiency in English. Many also incorporate services that help adults develop in-demand skills or transition to workforce development programs such as apprenticeships that can help them secure good jobs and higher wages. Programs are delivered by a diverse array of local providers, including community-based organizations, schools, libraries, and community colleges.
Though adult education programs receive funding from different sources, the main federal funds come from Title II of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA). Prior to this year, educational programs funded by Title II did not have any immigration-status restrictions for participants, except in a few states with their own laws limiting access. This was the case for several reasons, not least that Congress itself did not impose status requirements on Title II programs when it enacted WIOA in 2014. In addition, such restrictions have also long been viewed as extremely costly and difficult for local providers to implement. They also were seen as potentially harmful since they would discourage potential participants—regardless of legal status—from seeking to learn English or gain other important skills that support their integration.
With Title II funding receiving just $715 million in fiscal year (FY) 2025, the spending is a quite modest portion of the $7 trillion in federal spending that year. Yet these funds are one of the primary investments the federal government makes to support the successful civic, economic, and linguistic integration of the country’s immigrants. More than 752,000 adult English learners were served by English language acquisition programs (often referred to as English as a Second Language [ESL] or English for Speakers of Other Languages [ESOL] programs) and other integration-focused initiatives supported by these funds—in addition to significant contributions from state and local sources—in the 2023-24 program year. Such courses also typically help immigrant adults learn to navigate and adapt to U.S. society, including their participation and advancement in the workforce.
Underscoring the importance of these efforts: Immigrants comprise 18 percent of all U.S. workers, and they and their U.S.-born children have been the main drivers of U.S. workforce growth since 2010. As the United States continues to age and experience declining birth rates, it is critical to ensure that adult education programs continue to play a central role supporting immigrants—in the process helping ensure robust workforces in communities across the United States.
Overshooting an Already Questionable Goal
Administration officials have championed the expansion of immigration-status restrictions to adult education programs as part of a larger goal of preventing unauthorized immigrants from obtaining federal benefits. However, the new restrictions significantly overshoot the administration’s goal by also excluding from program services many immigrants who have legal status.
The July 2025 restrictions do not neatly follow the categories of legally present vs. “illegal aliens,” as the administration terms them. Rather, its new interpretation of the 1996 welfare law, the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act (PRWORA), limits access solely to “qualified” immigrants, a narrow category that includes naturalized citizens, lawful permanent residents (also known as green-card holders), refugees and asylees, and certain other humanitarian immigrants.
Immigrants not in the “qualified” category, and thus now barred from accessing services, include those with temporary work visas (such as the H-1B and H-2B) as well as most individuals with Temporary Protected Status (TPS), Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), or a pending asylum claim. As a result, the number of immigrants who can access adult education services will shrink significantly, and local providers will be required to turn away potential students who have work authorization or other permission to be in the country.
It is important to note that a legal challenge filed by 21 states has put the administration’s restrictions on hold for now. The Department of Education has clarified that it will not enforce or monitor the requirements for adult education programs immediately. Still, many states that are not parties to the litigation, such as Indiana, Ohio, and Virginia have begun to implement the restrictions despite the ongoing uncertainty.
Looming Implementation Challenges and Downstream Effects
For adult English programs that receive federal funds, the administration’s restrictions will mean not only fewer people they can serve but also new challenges and costs associated with verifying the immigration status of prospective students—immigrant and U.S. born alike. Determining which applicants have an immigration status that falls within the “qualified” category is a complicated undertaking, and one that requires an understanding of many legal nuances. Since many adult English programs run on small budgets with few staff (in fact frequently relying on part-time instructors), many local providers will struggle to find the capacity and resources needed to screen participants for eligibility.
Screening will also presumably have to be applied across the board, meaning all participants, regardless of birthplace or legal status, will face new administrative hurdles to enrolling in high school equivalency and English courses. This potentially will lead to lower levels of enrollment as research suggests is the case with other programs subject to immigration-status restrictions.
If fully implemented, the Trump administration restrictions likely will disrupt ongoing efforts to assist employers with upskilling their workers, including in critical industries where immigrants make up a significant share of the workforce. For example, in the manufacturing and retail sectors, many employers have developed partnerships with adult education providers to deliver onsite English instruction that is contextualized to help employees become more productive and advance to higher positions. These efforts, too, will be affected by the imposition of new status restrictions as more intensive screening of potential participants will likely exclude employees who are legally authorized to work but are not deemed “qualified” to access federally supported educational services.
The restrictions also seem destined to hinder collaboration between adult education and workforce development programs more generally, undermining a key goal Congress laid out in WIOA and one that is still widely supported at all levels of government. In recent years, many states have fostered greater cooperation between workforce development and adult education providers, often leveraging models that combine educational content (including English instruction) and workforce development activities into a single program that prepares participants for a particular credential or job. These types of programs, referred to as Integrated Education and Training (IET), can help employers fill needed vacancies, immigrant workers gain skills and become more economically self-sufficient, and local communities experience economic growth and greater immigrant integration. These efforts, however, will face new design barriers as federally funded adult education providers will be required to exclude some potential participants and enforce more restrictive status requirements than those of many federally funded workforce development programs.
Undermining the Administration’s Own Goals
The Trump administration has made it clear—at least rhetorically— that it seeks to promote immigrants’ English language acquisition and integration. Most notably, when President Donald Trump designated English the official language via a March 2025 executive order, he declared that “[i]n welcoming new Americans, a policy of encouraging the learning and adoption of our national language will make the United States a shared home and empower new citizens to achieve the American dream. Speaking English not only opens doors economically, but it helps newcomers engage in their communities, participate in national traditions, and give back to our society.”
In light of these aspirations and the president’s workforce policy goals, the administration’s intended restrictions on federal adult education programming appear particularly short-sighted. They will reduce the number of U.S. residents who can access educational services that increase English proficiency and integration. The new administrative burden added by requiring verification of the immigration status of all potential adult education students will also limit the capacity of local programs to serve adults with foundational skill barriers, immigrant and U.S. born alike. Furthermore, the new restrictions will hinder efforts to maintain and expand adult education and workforce development partnerships that meet employer needs at a time when the administration is seeking to build an increasingly skilled workforce.
By narrowing access to federal programs as part of its broader strategy to exclude unauthorized immigrants from federal programs, the administration’s actions appear destined to undermine critically important services in local communities as well as its own goals for immigrant integration and ensuring a strong workforce and vibrant national economy.
About the National Center on Immigrant Integration Policy
The Center is a national hub connecting policymakers, educators, community leaders, and service providers with evidence-informed policy research, technical assistance, and data to advance effective immigrant integration at U.S., state, and local levels.
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