Judge blocks Trump administration from freezing $10 billion in social services funding to 5 Democratic states

A federal judge has temporarily blocked the Department of Health and Human Services from halting around $10 billion in social services funding to multiple Democratic states, a move the agency argued was necessary to crack down on fraud — but the states called unconstitutional.

The states covered by the decision are California, New York, Minnesota, Illinois and Colorado.

HHS announced plans to freeze the funding earlier this week. The move would cut off some $7 billion from the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program, $2.4 billion from the Child Care Development Fund and $870 million in social services grants.

U.S. District Judge Arun Submaranian on Friday granted a request by the states for a temporary restraining order halting the funding freeze. The order will last for 14 days, while the court considers a request for a longer-term order.

CBS News has reached out to the White House and HHS For comment.

The funding freeze came as the Trump administration alleged pervasive fraud in social programs run by Democratic states — an issue that was vaulted into national prominence by revelations that hundreds of millions of dollars were bilked from child nutrition, housing and autism programs in Minnesota.

HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. told CBS News earlier this week the impacted states “are not affected because they’re Democratic,” but because they allegedly “refuse to cooperate with developing plans that would end the fraud.”

Kennedy said the impacted states were given warnings before their funding was frozen, but “if you won’t show us a plan, a workable plan, we’re gonna cut it off until you do.”

“The best way to help poor families is to end the fraud so that the money that is available for them. And that’s what we’re doing,” Kennedy said.

In a lawsuit against HHS filed in Manhattan federal court, the five states argued the Trump administration’s focus on fraud was merely a “pretext” to punish Democratic states that are “disfavored by the Administration.” They also called the funding freezes an “extraordinary and cruel” move that would hamper programs used by needy children and families.

The states alleged that the funding freeze is illegal and unconstitutional. They argued that the federal government can’t cut off funding based on “mere allegations or suspicion of fraud” without following a legal process that gives states an opportunity to respond to HHS’s concerns and appeal the agency’s decisions. 

Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul said in a statement Friday he was “pleased with the court’s decision.”

“There is no justification for this attempted funding freeze,” Raoul said. “It is a cruel and illegal attempt by the Trump administration to play politics with the lives of children and low-income families.