The Trump administration has been legally compelled to release substantial funding to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) for anti-terrorism measures, following a federal judge’s decision in New York. This funding, initially withheld due to sanctuary policies for undocumented immigrants, is intended to bolster defenses against potential attacks.

Judge Lewis Kaplan of Manhattan’s Federal Court delivered a decisive 28-page ruling, underscoring the city’s vulnerability due to its historical significance and continuous threat from terrorist activities. He opened his judgment with a poignant reminder of the September 11, 2001 attacks, which claimed nearly 3,000 lives near the very courthouse where the decision was made. Kaplan emphasized that New York City’s infrastructure, including its bridges, tunnels, and transit systems, remains a significant target for terrorism, noting that the subways alone have been the focus of at least eight thwarted plots.

This legal action was spearheaded by State Attorney General Tish James, who sought judicial intervention to compel the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to allocate $33.8 million through its Transit Security Grant Program. This plea arose after the Trump administration threatened to withhold the funds, opting to divert them to other applicants deemed less at risk, just before the start of the new federal fiscal year.

The crux of FEMA’s initial funding cut was New York City’s sanctuary policies, which conflicted with the Trump administration’s stringent immigration stance. Importantly, the funding was not withheld based on an assessment of terrorism threats, which Congress had earmarked funds to mitigate.

Judge Kaplan criticized this approach, articulating that Congress had not granted the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) the authority to impose immigration-related conditions on the allocation of Transit Security Grant Program funds. Instead, Congress mandated that such funds be distributed based solely on the risk of terrorist acts, a criterion New York City indisputably meets.

“Here, Congress did not authorize the DHS Secretary to fix immigration-related terms or conditions on the disbursement of TSGP funds. To the contrary, Congress prohibited DHS from imposing such terms by requiring the selection of grant recipients to be ‘based solely on risk,’” Kaplan wrote Thursday.

Lawyers for the federal government had argued that the money at issue had lapsed by the time the AG’s office sought the court’s intervention and had already been fully obligated to other recipients, that there was no evidence the decision-making behind withholding the funds was arbitrary and capricious, or that the cuts would cause irreparable harm. 

Since the TSG program was established in the years following the September 11 terrorist attacks, the MTA has received millions of dollars annually to protect its transportation infrastructure from terrorist attacks, including with technologies that can detect weapons of mass destruction.

NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch last week called the decision a “profound mistake”. She said the money had also funded canine units trained to detect explosive, chemical, or radiological threats in subway stations and tunnels, the employment of undercover officers and heavy weapons teams, and the implementation of broad surveillance systems. Gov. Hochul said the supposedly law-and-order-focused Trump administration was “defunding the police.”

Spokespeople for James’s office and DHS did not immediately respond to requests seeking comment.

This developing story will be updated.

Originally Published: October 16, 2025 at 11:43 AM EDT