A federal judge on Thursday issued a preliminary injunction barring the Trump Administration from withholding funding from cities that refuse to cooperate with ICE.
US District Judge John J. McConnell, an Obama appointee, said Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy lacked the authority and his directive was vague and unconstitutional.
20 Democrat attorneys general filed a lawsuit in response to Secretary Duffy’s April order that required states to comply with federal immigration enforcement action in order to receive transportation funding and federal grants.
The attorneys general argued in court this week that Congress already approved the funds.
Judge McConnell sided with the Democrat AGs and issued a preliminary injunction on Thursday.
“The IEC, backed by the Duffy Directive, is arbitrary and capricious in its scope and lacks specificity in how the States are to cooperate on immigration enforcement in exchange for Congressionally appropriated transportation dollars–grant money that the States rely on to keep their residents safely and efficiently on the road, in the sky, and on the rails,” Judge McConnell wrote in a 10-page order reviewed by The Gateway Pundit.
Judge McConnell said Duffy’s order violates the Constitution.
“These conditions violate the Spending Clause as well; the IEC is not at all reasonably related to the transportation funding program grants whose statutorily articulated purposes are for the maintenance and safety of roads, highways, bridges, and development of other transportation projects. The Government does not cite to any plausible connection between cooperating with ICE enforcement and the congressionally approved purposes of the Department of Transportation,” the judge wrote.
“The Court finds that the record now before it confirms that the States’ claims are likely to succeed because the Defendants’ actions here violate the Constitution and statutes of the United States,” the judge said.
Per the judge’s order:
1. Defendants are prohibited from implementing or enforcing the Immigration Enforcement Condition as set forth in the Duffy Directive.
2. Defendants are prohibited from withholding or terminating federal funding based on the Immigration Enforcement Condition as set forth in the Duffy Directive absent specific statutory authorization.
3. Defendants are prohibited from taking adverse action against any state entity or local jurisdiction, including barring it from receiving or making it ineligible for federal funding, based on the Immigration Enforcement Condition, absent specific statutory authorization.
4. The Court forbids and enjoins any attempt to implement the Immigration Enforcement Condition, and any actions by the Defendants to implement or enforce the Immigration Enforcement Condition
Recall that it was revealed that Judge McConnell, who previously halted President Trump’s temporary spending freeze, received over $100 million in government funding for his NGO.
Judge McConnell also called President Trump a “tyrant” and decried racism as a “white people problem.”
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