Federal judge says Trump administration must restore disaster money to Democratic states

"A federal judge has blocked the Trump administration's attempt to reallocate federal Homeland Security funding away from states that refuse to cooperate with certain federal immigration enforcement. U.S. District Judge Mary McElroy ruling solidified a win for the coalition of 12 attorneys general that sued the administration earlier this year after being alerted that their states would receive drastically reduced federal grants due to their sanctuary jurisdictions."

"In total, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Emergency Management Agency reduced more than $233 million from Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington. The money is part of a $1 billion program where allocations are supposed to be based on assessed risks, with states then largely passing most of the money on to police and fire departments."

"In her 48-page ruling, McElroy found that the federal government was weighing states' police on federal immigration enforcement on whether to reduce federal funding for the Homeland Security Grant Program and others. What else could defendants' decisions to cut funding to specific counterterrorism programming by conspicuous round numbered amounts including by slashing off the millions-place digits of awarded sums be if not arbitrary and capricious? Neither a law degree nor a degree in mathematics is required to deduce that no plausible, rational formula could produce this result, McElroy wrote."

A federal judge blocked an effort to reallocate Homeland Security Grant Program funds away from states that decline to assist federal immigration enforcement. A coalition of 12 attorneys general sued after learning that DHS and FEMA had reduced more than $233 million from nine jurisdictions, including several states and the District of Columbia. The grants are part of a $1 billion program intended to allocate funds based on assessed risks, with most funds passed to police and fire departments. The judge found the funding reductions appeared arbitrary and capricious, citing conspicuous round-number cuts that lacked a plausible rational formula.

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