US judge extends block on Trump's bid to eliminate Job Corps program

By Daniel Wiessner and Blake Brittain

(Reuters) -A U.S. judge on Wednesday blocked President Donald Trump's administration from shutting down Job Corps, a major residential job training program for low-income youth.

U.S. District Judge Andrew Carter in Manhattan said the abrupt shuttering of the 60-year-old program by the U.S. Department of Labor without authorization from Congress was likely illegal.

The ruling came in a lawsuit by the National Job Corps Association, a trade group for contractors who operate Job Corps sites, and some of its members. Carter issued a preliminary injunction stopping the Labor Department from ending the program pending the outcome of the lawsuit, extending an emergency ruling he issued earlier in June.

The White House, the Department of Labor and the NJCA did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Job Corps was created by Congress in 1964 and allows people aged 16-24 from disadvantaged backgrounds to obtain high school diplomas or an equivalent, vocational certificates and licenses, and on-the-job training. The program currently serves about 25,000 people at 120 Job Corps centers run by contractors and has a $1.7 billion budget.

Shuttering the program is a small piece of a broader effort by Trump, a Republican, and his appointees to drastically shrink the federal bureaucracy, including by getting rid of some offices and agencies altogether.

The Labor Department announced the end of the program in May, saying it was not cost-effective, had a low graduation rate and was not placing participants in stable jobs. The department also said there had been thousands of instances of violence, drug use and security breaches at Job Corps centers.

The NJCA and other plaintiffs claim the Labor Department does not have the power to dismantle a program established and funded by Congress. Federal law allows the department to close individual Job Corps centers only after seeking public comment and notifying local members of Congress, according to the lawsuit.

Ending Job Corps would have disastrous consequences for participants, contractors, and communities where centers are located, the plaintiffs said.

Carter on Wednesday said the administration lacked the authority to shut down the program without congressional approval.

"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," Carter said.

(Reporting by Daniel Wiessner in Albany, New York and Blake Brittain in Washington; Editing by Alexia Garamfalvi, Nia Williams and David Gregorio)