If your state takes federal cash for TANF or SSI, Washington now says the reporting obligation reaches every corner of state government. The Office of Legal Counsel concluded that Congress used an expansive definition of State in the 1996 welfare reform law, so any state that accepts TANF or SSI funding must have all of its agencies share information with the Department of Homeland Security about people the state knows are not lawfully present. DOJ said the opinion is dated Sept. 1 and applies only on a forward-looking basis, not to past TANF or SSI enrollments.
In 1998, DOJ's lawyers read the law to require reporting only by the agencies that administer Temporary Assistance for Needy Families and Supplemental Security Income. The new opinion revises that reading so the requirement now covers entire state governments. "Congress wrote this requirement plainly," said T. Elliot Gaiser, Assistant Attorney General in DOJ's Office of Legal Counsel.
For context on enforcement activity, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent was photographed near Delaney Hall, an ICE detention facility, in Newark, New Jersey, on May 26, 2026.
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Each year, federal TANF funding exceeds $16.4 billion; the programs are designed to support low-income individuals, and DOJ says the new interpretation obligates every state agency once those funds are accepted.
