Sept 12 (Reuters) — A federal judge in Rhode Island on Friday blocked the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development from requiring applicants for grants to build housing for the homeless to align themselves with U.S. President Donald Trump’s positions on immigration enforcement, transgender people and other issues.
U.S. District Judge Mary McElroy in Providence issued a temporary restraining order barring HUD from dispersing $75 million based on new criteria the administration adopted last week and prevented the grant funding from expiring as it was by law set to do on September 30 while the case is pending.
The judge said the agency acted unlawfully when last week it imposed new criteria to obtain funding and exceeded the authority delegated to it by Congress. McElroy, who has overseen other cases challenging Trump administration policies, lamented that an agency had once again created “chaos” with a rushed policy.
“I think that it’s unfortunate that we’re here on these things that are done so last minute by these agencies,” she said during hearing held via Zoom. “But here we are again.”
HUD did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
