Judge blocks Trump cuts, restores $34 million in anti-terror funds for New York City transit system

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NEW YORK (AP) — A federal judge has permanently blocked the Trump administration from withholding nearly $34 million in funding earmarked to protect New York’s transit system from terrorist attacks.

Judge Lewis A. Kaplan said in a ruling Thursday that the Republican administration’s decision, based on the Big Apple’s “sanctuary city” protections for immigrants in the United States illegally, was “arbitrary, capricious, and a blatant violation of the law.”

The post-9/11 Transit Security Grant Program, Kaplan noted in granting a permanent injunction, was created with instructions that money be allocated solely on the basis of terrorism risk. The judge had previously issued an order temporarily freezing the move.

The state sued Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Emergency Management Agency after they said last month that they were eliminating funding for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which runs the city’s transit system.

A FEMA official disclosed in a court filing that the transit authority “did not receive funding because the applicant is based in New York City, a designated Sanctuary Jurisdiction city.”

The MTA said its allocation, the largest of any transit agency, pays for targeted counterterrorism patrols, security equipment, infrastructure enhancements, cybersecurity technology and weapons detection technologies.

In a statement, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and Attorney General Letitia James praised Kaplan’s ruling as “a victory for every New Yorker who rides our subways, buses, and commuter rails.”

“A court has once again affirmed that this administration cannot punish New York by arbitrarily wiping out critical security resources and defunding law enforcement that keeps riders safe,” Hochul and James, both Democrats, said.