Overview
- U.S. District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan issued a permanent injunction finding the Trump administration’s withholding of the MTA grant arbitrary, capricious, and unlawful under the Administrative Procedure Act.
- Kaplan ordered DHS and FEMA to award $33,898,500, rejecting FEMA’s stated reason that New York’s status as a “Sanctuary Jurisdiction city” justified denying the money.
- By law, Transit Security Grant Program awards must be based solely on terrorism risk; the court emphasized New York’s transit network has been targeted multiple times since 9/11.
- The funding supports counterterror patrols, canine units, cameras, weapons detection, surveillance systems, and cybersecurity for the MTA and NYPD, with the allocation shared between the agencies.
- The decision follows an earlier temporary restraining order and comes after a separate White House reversal of a $187 million DHS cut to New York, with the government still able to seek a stay or appeal.