Judge Halts FEMA-ICE Requirement

In a legal setback to the Trump administration’s efforts to cut off funding to “sanctuary” states and cities, a federal judge declared on Wednesday that the Trump administration’s requirement that states collaborate with immigration enforcement in order to receive certain Federal Emergency Management Agency grants is unconstitutional. 

 

Twenty primarily Democratic states sued FEMA, claiming the agency was “holding critical emergency preparedness and response funding hostage” until they helped immigration officials. Rhode Island U.S. District Judge William Smith found in favor of the states. There will probably be an appeal of the ruling.

 

A Department of Homeland Security document released earlier this year that requires DHS grant recipients to “honor requests for cooperation” with immigration authorities, including requests to detain migrants or share information, was contested by the states that filed the lawsuit, which include California, New York, and Illinois.  The states claimed that this action is against the Constitution and federal law and might deny them access to billions of dollars in annual catastrophe payouts from FEMA,

a DHS subsidiary.

 

Source: CBS News