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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.
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