A federal judge in Rhode Island has put a stop to the Trump administration’s plans to deny disaster funding to states that do not cooperate with the White House’s immigration enforcement efforts.
Judge William E. Smith with the US District Court for the District of Rhode Island ruled on Wednesday that President Donald Trump cannot withhold disaster relief funding for sanctuary states, according to The New York Times.
A federal judge in Rhode Island ruled on Wednesday that President Trump could not punish states that refuse to cooperate with federal immigration enforcement efforts by denying them disaster mitigation money.
The lawsuit, filed by Democratic state attorneys general from Rhode Island, 19 other states and Washington, D.C. in May, challenged the legality of the administration’s withholding of billions of dollars in emergency management grants to states that did not allow law enforcement to cooperate with federal immigration officers, even when doing so would violate state laws.
The suit was prompted by a February directive from Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem ordering agencies under her purview to stop sending federal money to jurisdictions that do not assist the federal government in immigration enforcement. Many of the states involved in the lawsuit have laws or policies that bar local or state police from assisting federal immigration enforcement.
A group of 20 state Democratic attorneys general filed the lawsuit in May. The complaint argued that executive branch usurped Congress’ constitutional authority over federal spending by using these funds to pressure states into abandoning their sanctuary policies, which prohibit state and local law enforcement from collaborating with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and other agencies in apprehending and deporting illegal immigrants.
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Returning to America’s problem with retired fed judges, judges shopped by plaintiffs to grab favorable injunctions to thwart Executive actions… a 2nd Rhode Island fed judge stopped Trump linking fed aid to immigration enforcement compliance.
— Mike Ahern (@ahe00366594) September 25, 2025
Judges done by 70, for good reason. pic.twitter.com/IVjPOvBl1h
Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha said the ruling was a “win for the rule of law and reaffirms that the President may not pick and choose which laws he and his Administration obey,” according to The Associated Press.
In their complaint, states argued that for decades they counted on federal funding to prepare for, respond to and recover from disasters. But they argued conditions put forward by the Trump administration requiring them to commit state resources to immigration enforcement put at risk funding for everything from mitigating earthquake and flood risks to managing active wildfires.
The Department of Homeland Security “seek to upend this emergency management system, holding critical emergency preparedness and response funding hostage unless States promise to devote their scarce criminal enforcement resources, and other state agency resources, to the federal government’s own task of civil immigration enforcement beyond what state law allows,” the plaintiffs wrote.
New York Attorney General Letitia James lauded the ruling. “The federal government cannot prioritize its cruel immigration agenda over Americans’ safety,” she wrote in a post on X.
We just won our lawsuit against @DHSgov after a judge ruled the department can't hold life-saving disaster relief funds hostage to advance its anti-immigration efforts.
— NY AG James (@NewYorkStateAG) September 24, 2025
The federal government cannot prioritize its cruel immigration agenda over Americans' safety. https://t.co/vlBcaM82iF
Judge Smith explained his ruling, noting that the states “stand to suffer irreparable harm; the effect of the loss of emergency and disaster funds cannot be recovered later, and the downstream effect on disaster response and public safety are real and not compensable.”
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