Judge furious as he rules Donald Trump blatantly ignored order: ‘Ham-handed attempt to bully’
A federal judge in Rhode Island says the Trump administration ignored his order that stopped them from blocking FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) funds for places that wouldn’t follow Trump’s immigration policies.
Judge William Smith had already ruled in September that the government couldn’t make disaster aid dependent on local governments helping with federal immigration enforcement. He said that policy broke the law under the Administrative Procedure Act.
However, in a new ruling, Judge Smith said the Trump administration basically didn’t listen. Instead of removing the rule, officials added new wording to disaster relief agreements saying that if the court’s order was ever overturned, the immigration conditions would immediately take effect again.
Judge Smith called this behavior unacceptable. He said it was like telling states and cities that the court’s ruling didn’t really matter.
He explained that the administration was still forcing states to choose between helping with immigration enforcement or losing important federal funding.
He also said the government’s actions were not an honest attempt to follow the law, but rather a way to pressure and intimidate states into agreeing to something they didn’t have to.
According to the judge, this “conditional” approach was just a cover-up for doing the same thing the court had already forbidden. He made it clear that states have the right to receive federal grants without being forced to follow these immigration-related conditions.
