Trump Kills Youth Jobs

[justaprogressive]

Hours after federal agents arrested New York City Comptroller Brad Lander for attempting to escort a defendant out of immigration court, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York held a hearing across the street to consider extending a temporary restraining order to delay the “phased pause” of Job Corps centers nationwide. Judge Andrew L. Carter Jr., who granted the initial temporary restraining order on June 4, extended the order through today, June 25, preventing the Labor Department from taking steps to kill a program that has “help[ed] young adults build a pathway to a better life” for 60 years.

That quote, came from the current Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer, who initiated the dismantling of the Job Corps. In trying to justify the action, Chavez-DeRemer said that “a startling number of serious incident reports and our in-depth fiscal analysis reveal the program is no longer achieving the intended outcomes that students deserve.”

But the Labor Department’s concerns about the integrity of the program are merely a dog whistle. For years, the Heritage Foundation, the home base of Project 2025, has been at the center of the conservative plot to dismantle the Job Corps, a byproduct of President Lyndon B. Johnson’s Great Society policy initiatives. Heritage described the Job Corps in 2023 as “an ineffective federal job-training program that should be eliminated.” Moreover, the White House’s discretionary budget request for the 2026 fiscal year—crafted by Project 2025 architect Russell Vought—seeks to zero out funding for the “financially unsustainable” program, arguing it has also been “plagued by a culture of violence, assault, sex crimes, drug infractions, and death.”

But while the program itself has seen its fair share of challenges, its defenders say that these critiques are exaggerations that minimize the real benefits. “Termination of the Job Corps program is a detriment not only to its students, but also to the American workforce and the communities where Job Corps centers have become revenue generators,” Greg Regan and Shari Semelsberger, president and secretary-treasurer of the AFL-CIO Transportation Trades Department (TTD), said in a statement last month. TTD has also framed the Job Corps as key to realizing one of President Donald Trump’s stated policy goals: producing a million new active apprentices annually. “Our nation’s investment in Job Corps not only expands our skilled workforce, it ensures these young Americans are less likely to be involved in the criminal justice system or rely on public assistance,” TTD wrote in a letter on June 16.

https://prospect.org/politics/2025-06-25-trump-job-corps-employment-training/

[atreides1]

1. Strange

You wouldn't think that the current administration would have any issues when it's also plagued by a culture of violence, assault, sex crimes, drug infractions, and death!

Trump hates any kind of competition...

[Demovictory9]

2. Heritage foundation is a disgusting organization

[0rganism]

3. Kids, get your butts back here, there's crops to pick

We haven't primed the prison-to-work pipeline yet, so we'll need your cheap labor in the fields until we do. Besides, we think you're pretty close to criminal anyway, so get to practicing your picking already.