A federal judge has blocked the Trump administration from imposing new barriers to emergency aid, siding with Democratic-led states that argued the changes are illegal and impede their ability to respond to natural disasters.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Amy Potter of the U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon ruled in late December that the administration improperly sought to push states to cooperate with immigration authorities as a condition of receiving federal disaster and homeland security grants that had already been pledged to the states.
The states sued in November, accusing the Department of Homeland Security and Federal Emergency Management Agency of imposing “inappropriate barriers” to funding access. The money includes the Emergency Management Performance Grant program, which pays the salaries of state disaster responders.
As part of its changes, the Trump administration placed a hold on the emergency performance grants until states provided FEMA with certification that their reported populations do not include individuals that have been removed “pursuant to the immigration laws of the United States.”
