Judge orders Labor Department to keep Job Corps running during lawsuit

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NEW YORK CITY - A federal judge has ruled that the Trump administration's plan to shut down the taxpayer-funded Job Corps has to be put on pause until a lawsuit against the move is resolved.

The ruling this week bolsters a temporary restraining order the judge issued earlier this month, when he directed the Labor Department to cease removing Job Corps students from housing, terminating jobs or otherwise suspending the nationwide program without congressional approval.

SEE MORE: South Fulton leaders demand action after Job Corps program paused

The backstory:

In late May, the Department of Labor announced a nationwide "pause of operations" for dozens of Job Corps centers run by private contractors. The department cited an internal review that concluded the program was costly and had a low success rate.

The review also identified safety issues at the residential campuses. The Department of Labor said it would transition students and staff out of the locations by June 30.

Established in 1964, the program was designed for teenagers and young adults who struggled to finish high school in traditional school settings and then go on to obtain training and find jobs. Participants received tuition-free housing, meals and health care.

South Fulton leaders address Trump admin. after Job Corps program paused

Teens and young adults who once relied on Atlanta?s Job Corps program are now left searching for alternatives after the U.S. Department of Labor paused operations nationwide. The White House has cited inefficiencies and a $140 million deficit as reasons for scaling back the Job Corps program.

The National Job Corps Association, a nonprofit trade organization comprised of business, labor, volunteer and academic organizations, sued to block the suspension of services, alleging it would displace tens of thousands of vulnerable young people and force mass layoffs.

A second lawsuit, filed by Public Citizen Litigation Group and Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), involves a Georgia student who had earned her high school diploma and driver's permit through the organization and had started the Job Corps' Certified Nurse Assistant trade program.   

What they're saying:

"Once Congress has passed legislation stating that a program like the Job Corps must exist, and set aside funding for that program, the DOL is not free to do as it pleases; it is required to enforce the law as intended by Congress," U.S. District Judge Andrew Carter wrote in the ruling.

The judge rejected the department’s claims that it did not need to follow a congressionally mandated protocol for closing down Job Corps centers because it wasn’t closing the centers, only pausing their activities.

"The way that the DOL is shuttering operations and the context in which the shuttering is taking place make it clear that the DOL is actually attempting to close the centers," Carter wrote.

The harm faced by some of the students served by the privately run Job Corps centers is compelling, the judge said. Carter noted that one of the students named as a plaintiff in the lawsuit lives at a center in New York, where he is based.

If the Job Corps program is eliminated, she would lose all the progress she’s made toward earning a culinary arts certificate and "will immediately be plunged into homelessness," the judge wrote. That’s far from the "minor upheaval" described by government lawyers, he said.

The other side:

Department of Labor spokesperson Aaron Britt said the department was working closely with the Department of Justice to evaluate the injunction.

"We remain confident that our actions are consistent with the law," Britt wrote in an email.

"Secretary DeRemer rightfully paused funding to reassess underperforming programs, operating in a $140 million deficit, with massive safety concerns at Jobs Corps centers," Taylor Rogers, White House spokesperson, said in an email. "The district court lacked jurisdiction to enter its order, and the Trump Administration looks forward to ultimate victory on the issue."

Big picture view:

There are 123 Jobs Corps centers in the U.S., the majority of them operated by private organizations under agreements with the Department of Labor. Those private jobs corps centers serve more than 20,000 students across the U.S., according to the lawsuit.