The Trump administration has retreated from a plan to make federal disaster aid conditional on states helping with immigration enforcement, a new court document shows.
The move marks a victory for Democratic-led states that sued to block an administration policy adopted in April that would block billions of dollars in disaster aid and other funding for states that don’t cooperate with immigration authorities. Democratic states have won other court rulings to restore or release disaster aid.
The latest lawsuit, by 20 Democratic prosecutors, calls the April Department of Homeland Security policy a “grant funding hostage scheme” that tries to “coerce” states into following the administration’s immigration enforcement efforts.
In a court filing Friday, the administration backed off from the April policy and said its immigration enforcement requirements “do not apply” to grants and Federal Emergency Management Agency programs that help communities during and after a major disaster. DHS oversees FEMA.
