Judge Nixes Trump Bid to Purge DEI Terms From Head Start Applications

A federal judge has temporarily blocked the Trump administration’s efforts to remake Head Start, ordering it to stop removing words associated with diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) from grant applications and barring further layoffs in the Office of Head Start, Moriah Balingit reported for the Associated Press (AP).

Head Start serves hundreds of thousands of children from low-income households, foster homes, or experiencing homelessness. (Image: Head Start)

The order stems from a lawsuit filed in April against Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and other officials.

The suit alleges the administration has illegally dismantled Head Start by closing federal offices and laying off half the staff. It also challenges attempts to bar children in the U.S. illegally from Head Start programs and to ban language deemed related to DEI.

Plaintiff organizations representing providers and parents said in court filings last month that officials instructed a Head Start director in Wisconsin to remove terms such as “race,” “belonging,” and “pregnant people” from her grant application.

Later, the department sent a list of nearly 200 discouraged words, including “Black,” “Native American,” “disability,” and “women.”

Head Start, created six decades ago as part of President Lyndon B. Johnson’s War on Poverty, serves hundreds of thousands of children from low-income households, foster homes, or experiencing homelessness. It is federally funded but operated by nonprofits, schools, and local governments.