The Trump administration has frozen more than $6 billion in federal education funding, claiming states and school districts have diverted resources intended for low-income and immigrant children to push what it called a “radical leftwing agenda.”
The funding halt affects a wide range of education grants supporting after-school and summer programs, English language instruction, and adult literacy services. The decision sent schools and community partners scrambling this week, uncertain whether they can continue operating summer camps, migrant learning programs, or after-hours childcare in the coming months.
The Office of Management and Budget (OMB), which announced the freeze on Wednesday, stated that an initial audit revealed instances where schools allegedly used federal money to support immigrants in the country illegally or promote LGBTQ+ initiatives.
RELATED STORIES
READ ALSO: Obama, Bush and Bono decry USAID shutdown, blame Trump administration
“Many of these grant programs have been grossly misused to subsidize a radical leftwing agenda,” the OMB said in a statement.
Watch a recent episode of The BreakDown podcast below and subscribe to our channel PanaGenius TV for latest episodes.
Among the examples cited, New York schools were accused of directing English language funds toward advocacy groups for undocumented immigrants. In Washington state, officials reportedly steered such students to scholarships the administration claims were “intended for American students.” The OMB also pointed to the use of federal education dollars for a seminar titled “queer resistance in the arts.”
While the administration has not made final decisions about individual grant awards, it says all applications are under review for alignment with President Donald Trump’s priorities. Officials from New York and Washington state have not publicly responded to the accusations.
Education advocates argue that the administration’s move is a political maneuver disguised as oversight. Critics say the freeze targets marginalized communities under the broader umbrella of Trump’s hardline immigration agenda.
“By ‘cherrypicking’ extreme examples, the administration is seeking to conflate all students learning English with people who are in the country illegally,” said Amaya Garcia, director of education policy at New America, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank.
“The way they’re framing it is that we’re using this money for undocumented students and families,” added Margarita Machado-Casas, president of the National Association of Bilingual Educators.
“It’s a distraction. A distraction from what’s actually happening: that 5.3 million English learners who speak lots of different languages, not just Spanish, will suffer.”
READ ALSO: Trump administration sues Los Angeles over sanctuary policy
Most English learners in U.S. public schools were born in the country, according to the Migration Policy Institute, challenging the narrative that these programs primarily serve undocumented children.
Two key funding streams under review, $890 million for English language learners and $375 million for migrant education, are intended to help students develop proficiency, close learning gaps, and support the children of mobile families such as seasonal agricultural workers. Districts often use these grants to hire bilingual aides, run specialized summer programs, and deploy teachers to migrant communities.
Despite this, the Trump administration insists that taxpayer money should not be used to support those it considers unlawfully present in the country. The administration’s framing is raising alarms among legal experts and immigrant advocates, particularly in light of efforts in states like Texas, Oklahoma, and Tennessee to question the constitutional right of undocumented children to public education.
That right, established under the Supreme Court’s 1982 Plyler v. Doe decision, prohibits states from denying free public education based on immigration status. But recent challenges suggest that protection could be under renewed threat.
In Oregon, state officials expressed concern about the long-term implications of the grant freeze.
“Eliminating grants for English learners and migrant students would undermine the state’s efforts to increase academic outcomes for multilingual students, promote multilingualism, close opportunity gaps and provide targeted support to mobile and vulnerable student groups,” said Liz Merah, spokesperson for the Oregon Department of Education in an AP report.
