A federal judge has ordered the Trump administration to amend its grant criteria by next week, removing immigration-related stipulations.
Published On 14 Oct 2025
A U.S. federal judge has determined that the Trump administration breached a prior court injunction by reinstating a policy that conditions federal emergency grants on state cooperation with immigration enforcement efforts.
On Tuesday, District Judge William Smith of Providence, Rhode Island, stated that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) violated his September 24 order by attaching new immigration-related prerequisites to FEMA’s emergency preparedness funding.
Previously, Judge Smith had invalidated similar conditions that DHS had imposed, which were challenged by 20 states led by Democrats and the District of Columbia. These jurisdictions contended that the requirements were a tactic to pressure them into supporting the administration’s stringent immigration policies.
Following the initial ruling, the administration issued revised grant documents containing nearly the same immigration enforcement conditions, but included a provision that these would only take effect if the judge’s decision was stayed or reversed.
Judge Smith dismissed this conditional approach as a superficial attempt to circumvent the court’s order, emphasizing that the administration was once again unlawfully compelling states to assist with federal immigration enforcement under threat of losing vital federal funds.
“This new stipulation is not a sincere effort to adhere to the court’s directive; rather, it is a clumsy strategy to coerce states into commitments they are not obligated to make, jeopardizing essential disaster relief and other federally allocated funding,” Smith wrote.
Appointed by former President George W. Bush, Judge Smith blocked the enforcement of these new conditions and mandated that the administration revise the grant award terms by the following week.
The Department of Homeland Security has yet to issue a statement regarding the ruling.
The administration maintained that it complied with the judge’s earlier order and that the conditional language was intended to preserve its ability to enforce immigration-related grant conditions should the ruling be overturned on appeal.
This lawsuit is among several filed by Democratic state attorneys general in Rhode Island and other New England states, which have become prominent venues for legal challenges aimed at halting the Trump administration’s immigration policies.
