Trump administration can’t block child care money for 5 Democratic-led
states for now, judge says
[January 10, 2026]
A federal judge ruled Friday that President Donald Trump's
administration cannot block federal money for child care subsidies and
other programs aimed at supporting low-income families with children
from flowing to five Democratic-led states for now.
The states of California, Colorado, Illinois, Minnesota and New York
argued that a policy announced Tuesday to freeze billions of dollars in
funds for three grant programs is having an immediate impact on them and
creating “operational chaos.” In court filings and a hearing earlier
Friday, the states contended that the government did not have a legal
reason for withholding the money from them.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said it was pausing the
funding because it had “reason to believe” the states were granting
benefits to people in the country illegally, though it did not provide
evidence or explain why it was targeting those states and not others.
U.S. District Judge Arun Subramanian, who was nominated to the bench by
President Joe Biden, did not rule on the legality of the funding freeze
but said the five states met a legal threshold “to protect the status
quo” for at least 14 days while arguments are made in court.
Health department officials did not immediately respond to a request for
comment.
The affected programs are the Child Care and Development Fund, which
subsidizes child care for 1.3 million children from low-income families;
the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program, which provides cash
assistance and job training; and the Social Services Block Grant, a
smaller fund that provides money for a variety of programs.
The five states say they receive a total of more than $10 billion a year
from the programs.
New York Attorney General Letitia James, who is leading the lawsuit,
called the ruling a “critical victory for families whose lives have been
upended by this administration’s cruelty.”
The government had requested reams of data from the five states,
including the names and Social Security numbers of everyone who received
benefits from some of the programs since 2022.
The states argue that the effort is unconstitutional and is intended to
go after Trump’s political adversaries rather than to stamp out fraud in
government programs — something the states say they already do.
Jessica Ranucci, a lawyer in James' office, said during the Friday
hearing that at least four of the states had already had money delayed
after requesting it. She said that if the states can’t get child care
funds, there will be immediate uncertainty for providers and families
who rely on the programs.
[to top of second column]
|
Children watch television at ABC Learning Center in Minneapolis,
Minn., on Wednesday, Dec. 31, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Vancleave)
A lawyer for the federal government, Kamika Shaw, said it was her
understanding that the money had not stopped flowing to states.
The other 45 states face a new requirement to check attendance at
child care centers and submit “strong justification for the use of
funds” that aligns with the program's purpose.
At about the same time the judge stopped the freeze on the child
care subsidies, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins announced that
the administration would freeze about $130 million a year in funding
from her agency to Minnesota.
Rollins said the state’s inability to stop fraud schemes led to the
decision. Seventy-eight people have been charged since 2022 — and 57
convicted — after federal prosecutors said the Minnesota nonprofit
group Feeding Our Future stole $250 million from a program meant to
feed children in need during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz's office did not immediately have a comment
Friday evening. The state’s attorney general, Keith Ellison, said
he’d fight the new freeze of funds in court.
In a letter to Walz that Rollins shared on social media, she
suggested the state could restore its access to the funding by
providing justification for how it spent federal dollars over the
past year. All the state’s future transactions involving money from
the agency will require the same justification, she said.
Walz and Minnesota have become a main target of the administration
in Trump's second term.
Last month the president called the state’s Somali population
“garbage” in the wake of the Feeding Our Futures investigation and
other fraud cases involving Somali defendants.
And this week the administration launched the largest immigration
enforcement operation in history in Minneapolis, leading to a fatal
shooting of a woman by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent.
All contents © copyright 2026 Associated Press. All rights reserved
 |
