Lower federal courts side against Trump on border fence funding, ‘public charge’ rule

By Nick Miroff
Oct. 11, 2019 at 6:02 p.m. EDT

Federal judges in New York, Texas and California sided against two of the Trump administration’s key immigration initiatives Friday, the latest in lower court rulings against the president’s push for new physical and administrative barriers to migrants.

In El Paso, the court ruled the Trump administration’s attempt to reprogram military funds for the construction of border fencing was a violation of appropriation laws, a decision that could freeze work on the barrier in that area.

And in separate rulings in New York, California and Washington state, judges partly blocked the implementation of the “public charge” rule that aimed to disqualify immigrants from receiving green cards if they use public benefits or the government considers them likely to do so.

The decisions were the latest setbacks to the administration’s broader attempt to tighten the legal immigration system at the same time the president is seeking to erect hundreds of miles of towering steel barriers along the Mexico border using billions of dollars diverted from military budgets.

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