A federal judge has ruled that the Trump administration cannot temporarily withhold childcare subsidies and other welfare funding from five Democratic-led states, amid a legal challenge over the legality of the freeze.
The states of California, Colorado, Illinois, Minnesota and New York argued that the policy, announced on Tuesday, had caused immediate disruption and “operational chaos” for low-income families. They contended that the government had no legal basis for targeting them, and that the move was politically motivated.
The Department of Health and Human Services said it had paused the funding because it believed the states were providing benefits to people in the country illegally, but offered no evidence. District Judge Arun Subramanian, appointed by Joe Biden, did not rule on the lawfulness of the freeze but said the states had met the threshold to protect the status quo for at least 14 days while arguments are heard.
The affected programmes include the Child Care and Development Fund, which subsidises care for 1.3 million children, the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families programme, and the Social Services Block Grant. The five states receive more than $10bn a year from these sources together.
New York’s attorney general, Letitia James, called the ruling a “critical victory for families whose lives have been upended by this administration’s cruelty”. Meanwhile, the agriculture secretary, Brooke Rollins, separately announced a freeze on $130m a year in funding to Minnesota, citing the state’s failure to prevent a large-scale fraud scheme. Minnesota’s attorney general said he would challenge that decision in court.
