The Trump administration suffered two legal setbacks this week in battles involving New York state.
On Monday, a federal judge blocked the administration’s effort to divert homeland security funding from states that did not cooperate with the federal government’s immigration enforcement efforts, The Associated Press reported about it.
Then, on Tuesday, The New York Times reported about it that another federal judge rejected a Justice Department challenge to New York’s “green light law” that allows undocumented immigrants to obtain driver’s licenses and blocks federal immigration authorities from accessing DMV data.
Monday’s decision was issued by U.S. District Judge Mary McElroy in Rhode Island and restored more than $230 million in grants from the Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the AP agency reported.
“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 in her decision.
New York was joined by 10 other states and the District of Columbia in a lawsuit seeking to overturn the administration’s cuts.
“Law enforcement agencies and local leaders throughout New York depend on these funds to keep New Yorkers safe,” said the New York State Attorney General. said Letitia James. “The administration’s attempt to play politics with these resources was illegal and put our state at risk. This decision is a significant win in our continued efforts to protect New Yorkers from reckless funding cuts.”
The administration plans to fight the ruling, the AP reported.
“This judicial sabotage threatens the safety of our states, counties, cities and weakens the entire nation,” said Tricia McLaughlin, DHS Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs. “We will fight to restore these critical reforms and protect American lives.”
On Tuesday, Judge Anne M. Nardacci of the Northern District of New York rejected the administration’s challenge to the green light law. U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi announced the lawsuit in February, accusing James and Gov. Kathy Hochul of favoring “illegal aliens over American citizens.”
Nardacci dismissed the lawsuit, saying in her ruling that “Plaintiff has failed to make a credible case that any challenged provision of the Green Light Act unlawfully discriminates against the federal government.”
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