Judge restores $34M NYC transit security funds cut over sanctuary city policy
Source: Scripps News/AP
Posted 7:03 AM, Oct 17, 2025
A federal judge has permanently blocked the Trump administration from withholding nearly $34 million in funding earmarked to protect New York’s transit system from terrorist attacks.
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.
Read more: https://www.scrippsnews.com/politics/judge-restores-34m-nyc-transit-security-funds-cut-over-sanctuary-city-policy
Link to RULING (PDF) - https://courthousenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/kaplan-order-ny-terrorism-funding-southern-district-new-york.pdf
REFERENCES
https://www.democraticunderground.com/10143541067
https://www.democraticunderground.com/10143541378