Attorney General Mayes Stands with Job Corps to Protect Vulnerable Youth

PHOENIX — Attorney General Mayes today filed an amicus brief with attorneys general from 18 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 illegally terminated the program threatens to leave thousands of vulnerable young Americans homeless.
 
"Job Corps offers critical career training and housing to young Arizonans from low-income backgrounds,” said Attorney General Mayes. “For more than sixty years, it has helped young people from all corners of our state gain the skills they need to succeed and thrive in the workforce. It is unconscionable and unlawful for the Trump administration to terminate such a vital program.”
 
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. 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.
 
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 on Friday, with Washington Attorney General Nick Brown and Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford leading a coalition including Arizona, Colorado, Delaware, Hawaii, Maine, Michigan, New Jersey, California, Connecticut, Washington, D.C., Illinois, Maryland, Minnesota, New York, Rhode Island, Oregon, Vermont.
 
Friday’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. A copy of the brief is available below.