January 21, 2026 Dear John, Millions of immigrants have built their futures — and strengthened U.S. communities — through adult education programs that teach English, build foundational skills, and prepare workers for in-demand jobs. Recent federal actions, however, threaten to upend this decades-long progress and the Trump administration’s stated workforce policy goals, as a new short read explains. In July 2025, the administration imposed new immigration-status restrictions on access to a wide range of federally funded programs. While restrictions previously mainly covered programs that provide cash benefits, such as Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF), the administration now is seeking to extend them to educational and community service programs that have not historically been considered public benefit programs — including adult education and Head Start. Framed as an effort to limit public benefits for unauthorized immigrants, the new interpretation of the 1996 welfare reform law overshoots that aim — excluding many immigrants with legal status, including those on temporary work visas such as the H-1B. Most individuals with Temporary Protected Status (TPS), Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), or a pending asylum claim also would be excluded. “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,” write analysts Jacob Hofstetter and Margie McHugh of the Migration Policy Institute's National Center on Immigrant Integration Policy. If implemented, the restrictions would not only undermine immigrants’ ability to integrate but also harm employers and communities that depend on their skills and participation. As the analysis underscores, these policies risk destabilizing one of the federal government’s most proven vehicles for workforce development and immigrant integration—at a time when the United States can ill afford it. You can read the short read, Trump Administration Actions Jeopardize Decades of Progress in Adult Education and Immigrant Integration, here: www.migrationpolicy.org/news/trump-adult-education-integration. And for more of the Migration Policy Institute’s work on adult education and language learning, click here. | 
