Federal judge blocks permanent $233 million FEMA diversion to 12 Democratic states

A federal judge ordered preserving the $233 million in FEMA grants that the Trump administration tried to withhold from 12 Democratic-ruled states, hours before the Sept. 30 fiscal year shutdown.

The decision by Judge Mary S. McElroy, a Trump appointee to a federal court based in Rhode Island, keeps the funds available while the lawsuit filed by the disputed states moves forward.

At an urgently convened hearing, McElroy said the reallocation of resources within days of the end of the fiscal year seemed clearly illegal. She added: "It's yet another case where the administration is saying … I’m going to do what I want to do and not what the law says and make the court make me."

The magistrate explained that her goal, for the time being, is to "preserve the status quo" to prevent the money from expiring at midnight.

According to a report by Politico, the plaintiffs' filing laid out that the White House communicated the rescission of funding with a four-word justification, “Adjusted per DHS directive.” Lawyers for the states— with Illinois at the helm—claim that the White House adjustment was intended to punish jurisdictions deemed uncooperative with federal priorities on the immigration issue.

A Justice Department lawyer asked to deny the injunction on the grounds that blocking the reallocation would harm other states to which the Department of Homeland Security intended the funds to go, however, McElroy rejected the argument and ordered the money preserved until there is a ruling.

The ruling comes a week after another federal judge in Rhode Island, William Smith (an appointee of former President George W. Bush), determined that the Trump administration acted illegally in attempting, in his words, to coerce states to fall in line with its immigration enforcement priorities. McElroy said the speed with which funding was attempted to be withdrawn after that ruling was "troubling."