Tell HHS: Stop Punishing Kids Over Anti-Immigrant Lies

Trump officials tried to put child care funding at risk after a far-right smear campaign targeted Somali providers — and now HHS is refusing to show the public what really happened.

Civil rights groups just sued the Department of Health and Human Services for withholding records about the administration’s child care funding restrictions. A court already blocked the funding freeze, but families still deserve to know why essential child care and family assistance funds were threatened in the first place.

Parents rely on child care so they can work, keep appointments, attend school, and keep their families stable. Children rely on safe, consistent care to learn and grow. Using anti-immigrant smears to threaten those programs is cruel, discriminatory, and dangerous.

Tell HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.: End discriminatory funding restrictions and protect child care from political retaliation.

The lawsuit from civil rights advocates seeks internal HHS records about restrictions on federal programs that help families access child care and basic support. The public has a right to know whether the administration used far-right conspiracy theories and anti-Somali bias to justify policies that could harm children, parents, and providers.

When the government hides records about decisions that affect child care funding, it prevents families, advocates, lawmakers, and the public from holding officials accountable. And when immigrant communities are scapegoated, everyone who depends on public services becomes more vulnerable.

The release of HHS records is critical to exposing whether anti-immigrant bias and lies put child care in jeopardy. But transparency is only the first step. HHS must also ensure that essential child care funds can never again be threatened because officials choose scapegoating over facts.

Add your name now to demand HHS release the records, stop threatening child care over anti-immigrant lies, and protect families from political retaliation.

The petition to HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. reads:

"Release all records related to the Trump administration’s child care funding restrictions, end discriminatory restrictions based on unsubstantiated claims, and protect federal child care and family assistance funds from political retaliation."