A federal judge on Thursday ordered the Department of Homeland Security to send the MTA almost $34 million in security funding that the Trump administration tried to snatch back late last month.
DHS overstepped its authority when it attempted to tie money from the Transit Security Grant Program to the Trump administration's efforts to deport immigrants, Judge Lewis Kaplan said in his ruling.
Under federal law, Transit Security Grant Program grants are supposed to be based on cities' and states' risk of suffering a terrorist attack. But when the grant winners were announced at the end of September, FEMA informed the MTA that it would get no money because "it is based in a Sanctuary Jurisdiction city."
FEMA had initially suggested the MTA was going to receive $34 million under the TSGP. But all sides agreed that the New York's sanctuary city policies were the only reason for the denial, making it easy for Kaplan to order FEMA to hand over the full amount to the MTA.
"[T]he government argues that '[e]nsuring that recipients enforce federal immigration laws and policies is a rational reason in support of the agency’s denial of federal funds,'" Kaplan wrote. "Regardless of whether this constituted a 'rational reason' for the Reallocation Decision, the decision nonetheless was arbitrary and capricious because FEMA’s reliance on a non-risk factor constituted reliance on a factor proscribed by statute."
The suit over the funding cut took place as the federal government also attempted to cut $187 million in additional anti-terrorism grant funding to New York state. Trump reversed that funding cut by fiat in a post on his Truth Social platform, but left the specific transit security money in limbo — putting the feds in the tough position to try and explain how one of two grants obligated at the same time be restored by presidential fiat and but the other cannot.
During a hearing last week on New York's suit, federal attorney Jeffrey Oestericher laid bare the combination of incoherence and Constitutional crisis inherent in making policy decisions based on spite and impulse. For instance, Kaplan asked him Oestericher if the president had the authority to spend money that wasn't allocated by Congress — a power not given to the president in Article I of the Constitution — but the crossed-up attorney was only able to sputter, "I'm not authorized to answer that."
Kaplan's decision on Thursday castigated the feds for that non-answer.
"[T]he government’s view appears to be that the president unilaterally can deobligate grants to and reobligate grants among grantees, but ... there is no statutory or other authority for such a position," the judge wrote.
The MTA has said that the money from the TSGP funds things like police patrols, bag screening, training canine units and cybersecurity in New York City, as well as security efforts on the Long Island Rail Road and Metro-North. The federal agency decision to withhold the funding was first reported by Streetsblog.
"We are pleased with the Court’s decision," MTA Chief Security Office Michael Kemper said in a statement. "The success and safety of the nation’s largest city and transit system is critical, and New Yorkers expect that their hard-earned federal tax dollars are invested back in keeping riders safe."
Congress created Transit Security Grant Program in response to the Sept. 11 attack, which famously involved thousands of people being killed in New York City. Kaplan emphasized that in his ruling.
"On Sept. 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," he wrote. "The subways alone have been the subject of at least eight terrorist plots since Sept. 11. To guard against such attacks ... Congress established the transit security grant program which provides security-related grants to transit agencies throughout the country."
New York Attorney General Letitia James praised the judge's for his decision.
"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," James said. "We will always fight to ensure that New York gets the resources we need to support our law enforcement and keep people safe."
Streetsblog reached out to the Department of Homeland Security to see if it would comply with the ruling. We will update this story if we hear back.
