The judge said the blanket suspension was likely ‘arbitrary and capricious’ and questioned its necessity as ‘a rational precursor to reviewing programs.’
A federal judge on Thursday ordered the Trump administration to restore funding for nonprofit organizations that rely on federal grants to provide foreign aid assistance.
After taking office on Jan. 20, President Donald Trump announced a 90-day freeze on all foreign aid and development funding, pending reviews to ensure the programs aligned with U.S. interests. A group of nonprofit organizations filed a lawsuit on Feb. 11, alleging that Trump’s Jan. 20 executive order violated the Administrative Procedure Act.
U.S. government’s foreign policy is “not aligned with American interests and in many cases antithetical to American values,” according to Trump’s executive order.
“They serve to destabilize world peace by promoting ideas in foreign countries that are directly inverse to harmonious and stable relations internal to and among countries,” it states. “It is the policy of United States that no further United States foreign assistance shall be disbursed in a manner that is not fully aligned with the foreign policy of the President of the United States.”
In a ruling on Thursday, U.S. District Judge Amir Ali stated that the administration failed to justify why a blanket suspension of all congressionally appropriated foreign aid was “a rational precursor to reviewing programs.”
Ali said that implementing the blanket suspension was likely “arbitrary and capricious” because it failed to consider the “immense reliance interests” of businesses and other organizations that had previously been awarded the aid.
The foreign aid funding freeze has led to nonprofit organizations shutting offices and terminating staff. Some shut down their business entirely, according to the ruling. Ali said the plaintiffs have presented evidence that the funding freeze could result in “a catastrophic effect” on humanitarian missions.
One of the nonprofit groups that worked with refugees and asylum seekers laid off 535 staff members and shut program offices due to the funding freeze, according to the court document.
“To be sure, there is nothing arbitrary and capricious about executive agencies conducting a review of programs,” the judge stated. “But there has been no explanation offered in the record, let alone a ‘satisfactory explanation … including a rational connection between the facts found and the choice made,’ as to why reviewing programs—many longstanding and taking place pursuant to contractual terms—required an immediate and wholesale suspension of appropriated foreign aid.”
