Trump’s DHS freezes FEMA grant money hours after judge orders funding to be distributed

11 February

President Donald Trump's administration is now openly defying a federal judge's order pertaining to his freeze of federal grant money.

NBC News reported Tuesday that a senior official at the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) ordered subordinates to halt the disbursement of millions of dollars in federal grant funding. This is despite U.S. District Judge John J. McConnell ordering FEMA to immediately disburse the money, as it had already been appropriated by Congress.

According to NBC, Stacey Street, who is the director of FEMA's Office of Grant Administration, ordered the office to pause the release of funds for "emergency preparedness, homeland security, firefighting, protecting churches from terrorism and tribal security" in an email with the subject line: "URGENT: Holds on awards." The email specifically called for holds on "all open awards, all years (2021, 2022, 2023, 2024)," for every fiscal year that former President Joe Biden was in office.

One particular grant caught the eye of centabillionaire Elon Musk, who Trump has put in charge of combing through every federal agency's budget and recommending sweeping cuts. The Tesla and SpaceX CEO called for the elimination of $59 million in grants to New York for the purpose of housing immigrants while their individual cases play out in court. Musk insisted that those grants were "meant for American disaster relief and instead is being spent on high end hotels for illegals." However, the average cost of a New York City hotel stay for immigrant families is $156/night, compared to approximately $400/night on average for typical hotel stay.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt called judges' orders blocking the funding freeze "unlawful," and "a continuation of the weaponization of justice against President Trump."

"The White House will continue to fight these battles in court, and we expect to be vindicated," she said. "The president has every right to exercise his executive authority on behalf of the American people."

The question of how courts will enforce their orders in the event Trump disobeys them remains an open question. Vice President JD Vance recently tweeted that federal judges "aren't allowed to control the executive's legitimate power," even though Article III of the Constitution stipulates that judges' power extends to "the Laws of the United States." Additionally, courts have had the power to overrule presidents dating back to the Marbury v. Madison decision of 1803.

Click here to read NBC's report in its entirety.

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