Attorney General Ford Co-Leads Coalition of Attorneys General in Effort to Protect Vulnerable Young Nevadans

Carson City, NV — Today, Nevada Attorney General Aaron D. Ford announced he has co-led the filing of an amicus brief with attorneys general from 20 states in support of Job Corps, a national program that offers career training and housing to young Americans from low-income backgrounds. Job Corps has nearly 100 residential campuses across the country, and the Trump administration’s illegal termination of the program threatens to leave thousands of vulnerable young Americans homeless.

"The Job Corps program is a phenomenal and successful tool that has helped millions of young, vulnerable Americans from low-income backgrounds,” said AG Ford. “The president’s attempt to destroy this congressionally funded program simply because he dislikes it is not only cruel, it is illegal. The president does not have the power to decimate this program through an order and is simply playing political games with the futures of some of our most vulnerable Nevadans. I am proud to stand alongside my colleagues in opposing this action.”

The brief explains that “in the sixty years since Congress created Job Corps, millions of young Americans from low-income backgrounds have been served by the program’s unique combination of education, training, housing, healthcare and community.” The unlawful termination will impact tens of thousands of young Americans who are currently enrolled and housed at campuses in all fifty states. For example, the Sierra Nevada Job Corps Center in Reno graduates 500 vocational students a year. Thousands of these program participants were unhoused or in foster care when they enrolled and have no alternative housing if they lose their residence through the program.

Today’s amicus filing reaffirms that the injunction is necessary to protect vulnerable state residents and promote state goals in education and workforce development. It further reinforces the point that the Trump administration cannot violate federal law and the Constitution by terminating congressionally mandated programs it opposes.

The brief was filed in National Job Corps Association et al. v. Department of Labor et al. in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. AG Ford, along with Washington Attorney General Nick Brown, co-led the filing, and was joined by the attorneys general of Arizona, Colorado, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Hawaii, Maine, Michigan, New Jersey, California, Connecticut, Illinois, Maryland, Minnesota, New Mexico, New York, Rhode Island, Oregon and Vermont.

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