Washington state files amicus brief in support of legal challenge to unlawful termination of Job Corps

SEATTLE — Attorney General Nick Brown today filed an amicus brief with the attorneys general from 21 other states in support of a proposed class of plaintiffs challenging the unlawful termination of Job Corps, a national program that offers career training and housing to young Americans from low-income backgrounds. 

Last week, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York issued a preliminary injunction in favor of the plaintiffs challenging in National Job Corps Association et al. v. Department of Labor et al., noting in its opinion that the coalition of states led by Washington had opposed the termination of the program. Today’s filing urges the court, weighing a motion brought by enrollees in the program, to affirm that an injunction should remain in place.      

Job Corps has nearly 100 residential campuses across the country, and the Trump Administration’s effort to illegally terminate the program threatens to leave thousands of vulnerable young Americans homeless. The brief explains that “in the sixty years since Congress created Job Corps, millions of young Americans from low-income backgrounds have been served by the program’s unique combination of education, training, housing, healthcare and community.” 

Unlawful termination of the program would impact tens of thousands of young Americans who are currently enrolled and housed at campuses in all fifty states, including the Cascades Job Corps Center in Sedro-Woolley, Washington and the Tongue Point Job Corps Center in Astoria, Oregon. Thousands of these program participants were unhoused or in foster care when they enrolled and have no alternative housing if they lose their residence through the program.

Today’s brief was filed in Cabrera et al. v. Department of Labor et al. in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, with Attorney General Brown and Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford leading a coalition including Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Hawai’i, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Wisconsin.

Today’s amicus filing reaffirms that keeping an injunction in place is necessary to protect vulnerable state residents and promote state goals in education and workforce development. It further reinforces the point that the Trump administration cannot violate federal law and the Constitution by terminating congressionally mandated programs it opposes.

A copy of the amicus brief is available here.

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