As part of the Trump Administration’s immigration crackdown, the Labor Department’s Employment and Training Administration issued new guidance to ensure undocumented immigrants are not allowed to access federal workplace development resources and related programs funded under the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA). This includes Title I Adult, Dislocated Worker, Youth programs (including statewide employment and training services funded by the Governor reserve), WIOA National Dislocated Worker Grants, Wagner-Peyser Act Employment Service, Reentry Employment Opportunities and other programs authorized under Section 169 of WIOA, YouthBuild, the National Farmworker Jobs Program, and the Senior Community Service Employment Program.
Under this new guidance, all grantees funded through WIOA and related programs must verify valid work authorization before providing participant-level services. The guidance also directs the public workforce development system to update all policies and procedures to verify work authorization and maintain proper documentation in participant case files.