AGs celebrate court victory stopping federal funding freeze for Caribbean immigrants
New York Attorney General Letitia James and a coalition of 22 attorneys general on Monday celebrated winning a court order temporarily blocking President Trump from withholding trillions of dollars in funding that every state in the country relies on to provide essential services to millions of Americans, including Caribbean immigrants.
On Friday, Judge John J. McConnell of the US District Court for the District of Rhode Island granted a temporary restraining order (TRO) blocking Trump’s “illegal funding freeze” of many federal agency grants, loans and other financial assistance programs.
Attorney General James and the coalition had filed a lawsuit to stop the policy.
“The power of the purse belongs to Congress – not the President of the United States,” said Attorney General James. “Last week, I led a coalition of attorneys general in suing to stop this dangerous and chaotic policy, and we won a court order to stop it while our lawsuit proceeds.
“Now, New Yorkers can rest assured that federal funds for critical services – meals for our seniors, health care, community public safety, disaster relief, and so much more – are currently not at risk,” she said. “I will continue to fight in court to defend the essential programs and services New Yorkers need.”
The TRO won by Attorney General James prohibits federal agencies from taking any action that would “pause, freeze, block, cancel or terminate” the provision of federal funding, unless otherwise permitted by existing statute or the terms of the grant.
In light of James’s immediate intervention, she said programs that provide critical health and childcare services to families in need, deliver support to public schools, combat violence and expand public safety, provide life-saving disaster relief to states, and more are no longer at immediate risk of losing their funding.
In a notice sent to federal agencies and filed with the court on Monday, the Department of Justice (DOJ) indicated its intent to comply with the court order and affirmed that the TRO blocking the illegal freeze applied to all federal funding awards or obligations, including those made to recipients such as hospitals, non-profits, or other organizations.
James said the TRO applied to both current and future grants of federal assistance.
On Monday, Attorney General James also dispatched a letter to hundreds of recipients of federal funding informing them that federal financial assistance cannot be frozen as a result of the administration’s policy, which is now blocked.
She said this included health care providers, who were informed that funding cannot be frozen or withdrawn on the basis of providing gender affirming care to minors.
Attorney General James said she also reminded providers that, regardless of funding, all providers in New York are obligated to comply with New York state laws, including those that prohibit discrimination against individuals based on their sex, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, or membership in other protected classes.
To comply with New York law, James warned all providers that they must continue to provide health care services, including gender-affirming care, to transgender or gender-nonconforming individuals.
This lawsuit was led by Attorney General James and the attorneys general of California, Illinois, Massachusetts, New Jersey and Rhode Island.
Joining the lawsuit were the attorneys general of Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oregon, Vermont, Washington, Wisconsin, and the District of Columbia.
Caribbean-American Democratic Congresswoman Yvette D. Clarke had also strongly condemned as “unconstitutional suspension of Congressionally-approved domestic and international grant funding.”
Clarke, the daughter of Jamaican immigrants, who represents the 9th Congressional District in Brooklyn, told Caribbean Life that she was outraged over Trump’s ordering of “one of the most transparently unconstitutional actions ever before taken by an American president – an illegal decision that was openly and proudly written by the authors of Project 2025, Donald Trump’s step-by-step manifesto to destroy American democracy.”
She said Trump’s action represented “a significant step towards achieving that goal.”
The congresswoman warned that Trump’s overreach will not be limited to Caribbean and other immigrant communities, or Democratic voters, “or the many groups Donald Trump has sicced hatred on over his career.”
She said his decision would “harm Americans in every corner of this nation, including the president’s supporters.”
