"The case centers on reimbursement requests submitted by local governments under federal migrant support grants. Those requests were filed before Homeland Security formally terminated the grants, and the law requires agencies to process reimbursements within a statutory 30-day window. Instead of paying up or offering a lawful explanation for denying the requests, the administration froze the funds and then argued that it no longer had to meet the reimbursement deadline because the grants were now in "closeout.""
"This ruling fits neatly into a growing stack of judicial orders documenting the administration's increasingly casual relationship with the concept of a co-equal branch of government. Time and again, courts have had to spell out what should be basic civics: executive agencies don't get to ignore deadlines, rewrite regulations on the fly, or treat judicial oversight as a nuisance to be managed rather than authority to be respected."
Judge Matthew Kennelly found the Department of Homeland Security failed to comply with a court order to unfreeze migrant support funds owed to Chicago, Denver, and Pima County, Arizona. Local governments filed reimbursement requests before Homeland Security terminated the grants, and federal law requires agencies to process reimbursements within a 30-day statutory window. Instead of processing or properly denying the requests, the administration froze the funds and claimed closeout excused the deadline. The judge held the governing regulation does not permit a federal agency to escape its regulatory obligations by later terminating a grant. The order reinforces judicial limits on executive agency conduct.
Read at Above the Law
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