Federal judge blocks White House’s reductions of homeland security funding to states | Trump administration
A federal judge has blocked the Trump administration’s efforts to cut federal Homeland Security funding, including disaster funding, for states that fail to comply with immigration enforcement policies.
U.S. District Judge Mary McElroy of Rhode Island, a Trump appointee in 2018, ruled Monday that the latest case was “yet another example” of the Trump administration linking state and local government aid to its immigration crackdown.
The Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema) have cut more than $230 million in federal grants for Connecticut, Delaware, Minnesota, Massachusetts, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont and the District of Columbia. The grants were part of $1 billion in annual funds awarded to state and local governments for counterterrorism efforts.
In a scathing 48-page written ruling, McElroy wrote: “Defendants’ indiscriminate and wanton abuse of their role in administering federal grants is particularly troublesome given that they have been entrusted with a most solemn duty: to protect our nation and its citizens. »
She added: “While the intricacies of administrative law and the terms of federal grants may seem abstract to some, the funding at issue here supports vital counterterrorism and law enforcement programs. »
McElroy’s ruling specifically cited the Brown University mass shooting, in which a gunman killed two people and injured nine others, as an example of how federal grants were likely used to help law enforcement respond.
“Holding funding for programs like these hostage based solely on what appears to be the political whims of the defendants is unconscionable and, at least here, illegal,” McElroy wrote.
A coalition of 12 affected state attorneys general who filed suit in response to the budget cuts called McElroy’s decision a significant victory.
“Law enforcement and local leaders across New York state depend on these funds to keep New Yorkers safe,” New York Attorney General Letitia James said in a statement following McElroy’s decision. “The administration’s attempt to play politics with these resources was illegal and put our state at risk. This decision is a significant victory in our ongoing efforts to protect New Yorkers from reckless budget cuts.”
The Department of Homeland Security indicated it would appeal the latest decision, Axios reported.
The Associated Press contributed report
