A federal decide in New York on Thursday ordered the Trump administration to supply tens of hundreds of thousands of {dollars} to the MTA to guard towards terrorist assaults, funding that had been denied primarily based on the town’s sanctuary protections for undocumented immigrants.
Manhattan Federal Choose Lewis Kaplan issued a remaining judgment on the matter in a 28-page order that started with a solemn reference to the 9/11 terrorist assaults.
“On September 11, 2001, blocks away from this courthouse, nearly 3,000 people lost their lives in a devastating terrorist attack that destroyed the World Trade Center. In the decades since, New York City has remained a prime target for terrorist attacks,” Kaplan wrote. “Among the City’s foremost targets are its bridges, tunnels, and subway and commuter rail systems. The subways alone have been the subject of at least eight terrorist plots since.”
State Lawyer Common Tish James’s workplace requested the courts to require FEMA, a element of the Division of Homeland Safety, to grant New York $33.8 million for anti-terrorism protections by way of its Transit Safety Grant Program and never give it to different, much less at-risk candidates, upon studying the Trump administration was going to chop the funding on Sept. 30, the eve of the brand new federal fiscal yr.
Gov. Kathy Hochul spoke alongside MTA Chairman Janno Lieber (proper) and NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch Thursday, Oct. 9, 2025, blasting the Trump administration for “defunding the police” and denying $34 million in transit safety grants to New York. (Evan Simko-Bednarski / New York Day by day Information)
FEMA reduce the funding as a result of New York Metropolis’s sanctuary protections for undocumented immigrants don’t align with the Trump administration’s hardline insurance policies on immigration. The decisoon was not primarily based on the chance of the town dealing with one other terrorist assault, as Congress supposed.
“Here, Congress did not authorize the DHS Secretary to fix immigration-related terms or conditions on the disbursement of TSGP funds. To the contrary, Congress prohibited DHS from imposing such terms by requiring the selection of grant recipients to be ‘based solely on risk,’” Kaplan wrote Thursday.
Attorneys for the federal authorities had argued that the cash at problem had lapsed by the point the AG’s workplace sought the court docket’s intervention and had already been absolutely obligated to different recipients, that there was no proof the decision-making behind withholding the funds was arbitrary and capricious, or that the cuts would trigger irreparable hurt.
Because the TSG program was established within the years following the September 11 terrorist assaults, the MTA has obtained hundreds of thousands of {dollars} yearly to guard its transportation infrastructure from terrorist assaults, together with with applied sciences that may detect weapons of mass destruction.
NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch final week referred to as the choice a “profound mistake”. She mentioned the cash had additionally funded canine models educated to detect explosive, chemical, or radiological threats in subway stations and tunnels, the employment of undercover officers and heavy weapons groups, and the implementation of broad surveillance programs. Gov. Hochul mentioned the supposedly law-and-order-focused Trump administration was “defunding the police.”
Spokespeople for James’s workplace and DHS didn’t instantly reply to requests in search of remark.
This creating story will likely be up to date.
Initially Printed: October 16, 2025 at 11:43 AM EDT
