A federal judge on Monday ordered Secretary of State Marco Rubio to restore funding to a series of refugee assistance groups that he’d slashed, saying the Trump administration was undercutting Congress’s spending decisions.
Judge Jamal Whitehead said the government has “great leeway” in spending decisions but it can’t curtail spending to the point that a program can no longer carry out the task Congress assigned it in the law.
In this case, the judge said, Mr. Rubio’s decision to terminate all its refugee cooperative agreements with organizations assisting in resettling refugees undermines the purpose of the program.
“This action has effectively dismantled the infrastructure necessary to fulfill the government’s statutory obligations and is therefore contrary to law,” the judge wrote.
The ruling marks his second legal spanking of the Trump administration.
He had first ruled against a wind-down of refugee aid following President Trump’s Inauguration Day executive order limiting refugee admissions.
A day after that earlier injunction, Mr. Rubio said he’d done his own review of spending under his powers as secretary. He ended every agreement with outfits to provide resettlement assistance here in the U.S., and all but one of the agreements to help process refugees abroad.
Judge Whitehead said the explanation the State Department gave for curtailing the funding doesn’t hold up.
The Justice Department had argued the matter was a contract dispute that belonged in the Court of Federal Claims, not in a U.S. district court.
Judge Whitehead said the challengers aren’t arguing over contracts but rather the fundamental requirements of federal refugee law.
