NEW YORK, N.Y. — A federal judge has issued a nationwide injunction blocking the Trump administration from shutting down 99 privately operated Job Corps centers across the country, ruling the Department of Labor violated federal law in attempting to do so without proper notice or congressional approval.
In a strongly worded 25-page order issued Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Andrew L. Carter Jr. sided with the National Job Corps Association and several Job Corps operators and students who filed suit after the Department of Labor issued contract termination notices in late May. The agency had ordered the centers to shut down by June 30.
Among the centers which would have been closed was the Carl D. Perkins Job Corps Center in Prestonsburg.
“These actions amount to a closure, regardless of how the Department chooses to label them,” Judge Carter wrote, adding that the closures would leave thousands of vulnerable young people — including abuse survivors and those facing homelessness — without shelter, education or support.
The court found that the Department had violated clear requirements under federal law, which mandate public notice, a comment period, and advance notification to members of Congress before closing any Job Corps center.
The Department of Labor argued that it was only terminating contracts, not closing the centers, and thus was not bound by those requirements. But the judge rejected that defense, stating the agency had “gutted the Job Corps centers so as to make them inoperable” by halting new enrollments and issuing stop-work orders.
“Once Congress has passed legislation stating that a program like the Job Corps must exist, and set aside funding for that program, the [Department of Labor] is not free to do as it pleases; it is required to enforce the law as intended by Congress,” Carter ruled.
In addition to the May order to “pause” operations at the centers, the Department of Labor issued an order in March halting background checks of new applicants. Carter said that order had the effect of ending new enrollment, because the centers are required by law to obtain the checks prior to allowing students to enroll.
The ruling orders the Department to immediately stop all efforts to close the centers and resume program operations. It also directs the plaintiffs to post a $200,000 bond as security.
The preliminary injunction applies nationwide but includes language allowing for modifications if conflicting rulings arise in other jurisdictions. The Department’s request to stay the proceedings was denied.
Job Corps, created in 1964 and authorized under the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act, is the nation’s largest free residential training program for low-income youth ages 16 to 24. The now-blocked closures would have affected about 20,000 students across the country.
A full copy of the judge’s order follows:
