In brief
U.S. District Judge William Smith ruled that the Trump administration's attempts to pressure states into immigration enforcement as a condition for disaster funding are unconstitutional. The judge ordered the Department of Homeland Security to stop enforcing these conditions and amend related documents. He criticized the agency's actions as attempts to bully states, emphasizing that federal funding for managing disasters should not be contingent on immigration compliance.
A federal judge in Rhode Island on Tuesday accused the Trump administration of trying to “bully” states into accepting conditions that require them to cooperate on immigration enforcement actions to get disaster funding after he ruled earlier that those actions were unconstitutional.
U.S. District Judge William Smith, appointed by former Republican President George W. Bush, issued a summary judgment last month ruling that the Department of Homeland Security couldn’t impose the conditions.
Despite the September ruling, a coalition of 20 state Democratic attorneys general argued the agency still attached conditions to the grants, with language suggesting they would apply if the case was “stayed, vacated, or extinguished.”
Smith ordered Homeland Security to permanently stop enforcing those conditions against plaintiff states and to amend documents within seven days to remove language requiring compliance with federal immigration law.
The judge accused the agency of violating his order and described it as a “ham-handed attempt to bully the states into making promises they have no obligation to make at the risk of losing critical disaster funding already appropriated by Congress.”
In their complaint, the states expressed that federal funding is crucial for preparing for, responding to, and recovering from disasters. Conditions demanding resources for immigration enforcement jeopardized funding for various disaster management efforts.
The Department of Homeland Security's actions were characterized as attempts to upend the emergency management system, holding emergency funding hostage unless states promised compliance with immigration laws, the plaintiffs stated.
The judge's ruling emphasizes the need to prevent coercion that infringes on the states' autonomy in managing their resources beyond what federal law dictates.
