Judge sides with WA in dispute over $4M grant canceled during DOGE era
Source: Yahoo! News/Washington State Standard
Wed, May 27, 2026 at 7:00 AM EDT
A federal judge in Seattle on Tuesday ruled the Trump administration wrongfully terminated a $4 million grant for Washington meant to provide services for new migrants. The case is somewhat of a blast from the past, as it deals with the Trump administration’s withholding of federal funding under the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, led by Elon Musk.
Since 2019, Congress has tasked the Federal Emergency Management Agency with doling out grants for shelter and other services for migrants recently released from U.S. Department of Homeland Security custody. President Donald Trump signed a version of the program into law in his first term. The goal partially was to alleviate overcrowding in short-term federal holding facilities.
Between 2022 and 2024, amid the war in Ukraine and the U.S. exit from Afghanistan, more than 45,000 migrants arrived in Washington, according to court documents. Many of them were seeking humanitarian relief, like asylum. But the state’s housing system was already stretched thin. Hundreds of migrants camped on the property of a Tukwila church due to the lack of other resources, for example.
To help these newcomers, Washington started a program in 2024 with $25 million in state funding. The money went toward shelter, access to food, water and medical care as well as hygiene supplies. The state also received $4 million from FEMA’s Shelter and Services Program to support the effort. Washington planned to disburse funding to the city of Tukwila, Seattle and King County’s public health agency, and Seattle nonprofit Mary’s Place, with hopes of serving 525 migrants per day.
Read more: https://www.yahoo.com/news/politics/articles/judge-sides-wa-dispute-over-110055680.html
Link to ORDER - https://www.courthousenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/washington-vs-dhs-order.pdf