Photo | Eric Casey
The Grafton Job Corps Center
4 hours ago
Judge: Trump Administration can’t close Job Corps in Grafton, Devens until lawsuit is resolved
Photo | Eric Casey
The Shriver Job Corps Center in Devens has been operating since 1996. The center had a traditional graduation rate of 89.6% in 2023, the highest of any center in the country.
A federal judge has extended the block preventing the President Donald Trump Administration from shutting down Job Corps Centers across the country, including the Grafton Job Corps Center and the Shriver Job Corps Center in Devens, until a lawsuit is resolved.
Saying the U.S. Department of Labor lacked the necessary congressional approval and casting doubt the Trump Administration’s move to shutter the centers was indeed a temporary pause, Judge Andrew Carter of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York issued the preliminary injunction order on Wednesday.
“Defendants claim that they have not closed the Private Job Corps Centers, but have simply paused operations by terminating their contracts with those centers,” Carter wrote in his ruling. “Defendants argue that because they have not closed the Private Job Corps Centers, there was no need to follow the congressionally mandated protocols for center closures. But the way that the DOL is shuttering operations and the context in which the shuttering is taking place make it clear that the DOL is actually attempting to close the centers.”
Carter’s ruling also took issue with the impact of the sudden closure of 99 privately-run Job Corps centers across the country. In its June 30 press release announcing the news, Department of Labor said the closure was a temporary pause of Job Corps operations but offered no insight into how or when the pause would end. The agency argued disciplinary issues at Job Corps sites and what it said were low graduation rates were the reason the program should be shuttered.
“Defendants concede that absent an injunction, thousands of abused children and/or young people will be kicked off Job Corps campuses, rendering them homeless instantly because they have nowhere else to go,” Carter wrote. “Defendants concede that the DOL has articulated no plans for the money that Congress has already set aside for the Job Corps program. For these reasons and those outlined below, the Plaintiffs’ motion for a preliminary injunction is granted.”
The federal injunction comes after a previous temporary injunction blocking the closures, which was set to expire Wednesday.
The ruling comes as part of a lawsuit filed against Department of Labor on June 3 by the National Job Corps Association, a professional trade association of business and advocacy groups with interests in the 61-year-old vocational training program.
In his order, Carter outlined the difficult life circumstances many Job Corps students are attempting to overcome as they work to gain skills in industries like construction and manufacturing, fields which are facing persistent shortages of labor.
“Although older generations frequently bemoan the lack of determination and resilience in American youth, the students in the Job Corps program rebut this notion,” Carter wrote. “The participants are all poor, and many resided in homeless shelters, were placed in foster care, or suffered physical, sexual, or emotional abuse. Despite these obstacles, the participants have dedicated themselves to furthering their education with the hope that their efforts will lead to employment.”
Photo | Eric Casey
Harrison Ingles, a graduate of the Shriver Job Corps Center in Devens, speaks at a press conference on Wednesday in front of the center.
Department of Labor is facing an additional class action lawsuit filed on June 18 by seven impacted Job Corps students across six states, who argued the decision to close the program was unlawful, according to federal court records.
The federal injunction comes following a press conference held on June 18 by Congressman Jim McGovern (D-MA), Congresswoman Lori Trahan (D-MA), and graduates of the Shriver Job Corps Center, where they outlined the negative impacts of the center’s closure and called for Trump to reverse the decision.
Eric Casey is the managing editor at Worcester Business Journal, who primarily covers the manufacturing and real estate industries.
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