By The Epoch Times | Created at 2026-10-01 16:51:46 | Updated at 2026-10-01 18:03:41
1 hour ago
California and six other states filed a
lawsuitagainst the Trump administration on Wednesday after it moved to
cutfederal funding for programs involving immigration, race, and gender ideology.
The White House said the programs are not in the national interest.
The states accuse the administration of withholding federal funds approved by Congress, including about $810 million the White House moved to cancel before the fiscal year ended.
The lawsuit is the latest move in a battle between President Donald Trump and Congress over control of the nation’s spending.
Funding ‘Does Not Benefit Americans’
“President Trump is committed to utilizing all possible tools to cut wasteful and harmful government spending that does not benefit American citizens,” the White House said in a Sept. 25. statement announcing the steps.
Trump last year utilized what the White House said were “long-neglected presidential authorities provided to him under the Impoundment Control Act” to deploy the first pocket rescission in almost 50 years.
President Jimmy Carter used the tactic in 1977.
“This year, he is continuing his commitment to the American taxpayer by utilizing a pocket rescission for another nearly $1 billion of the most harmful government spending,” the White House said.
‘Open Borders NGO’
Some $567 million of the withdrawn funds previously went to nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and what the White House termed “pro-illegal immigration programs” that provided services to refugees, those granted asylum, and other noncitizens.
The statement said some of these programs “put unaccompanied children in harm’s way.”
Of this $567 million, some $2.1 million went to Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service Inc (DBA Global Refuge), which the White House described as “an open-borders NGO” run by Michelle Obama’s former policy director, Krish O'Mara Vignarajah.
The statement said the organization’s budget “more than quadrupled under the Biden administration, nearly all from government grants.”
President Donald Trump speaks in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington on Sept. 30, 2026. Alex Brandon/AP Photo
The administration intends to cut $40 million in funding to Southwest Key Programs, which faced a civil lawsuit from the Department of Justice alleging that it had, through its employees, subjected unaccompanied migrant children in its care to sexual harassment and abuse.
The lawsuit by the seven states sets up a fresh legal clash over the limits of presidential spending power, with the pocket rescission tactic drawing criticism from Democrats and some Republicans.
The states argue that the administration’s efforts to withhold federal funds undermine Congress’s exclusive power to control federal spending.
Filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California and led by California Attorney General Rob Bonta, the suit argues that the administration’s refusal to spend appropriated money violates the Constitution’s separation of powers, appropriations, and presentment clauses.
‘Blatant Disregard’
“I continue to be appalled by President Trump’s blatant disregard for the basic Constitutional framework of our government. Just because the president doesn’t like a program doesn’t mean he can defund it,” Bonta said in a statement.
The White House sought last week to unilaterally withhold the funds using a
pocket rescission—sending Congress a request to cancel funds so close to the end of a fiscal year that they expire before lawmakers can act.
In August 2025, Trump used the same maneuver to cancel $4.9 billion in appropriated funds for foreign aid spending.
While the Constitution gives Congress control of the public purse, the White House said in last week’s statement the programs were being used to support illegal immigration, stoke racial tensions, and promote climate alarmism, including through international funding.
One of the programs cut, a $15 million Community Relations initiative funded through the Department of Justice, promoted “radical critical race theory and gender ideology,” according to the White House.
Another $70 million is set to be cut from what the administration termed “Woke International Education,” referring to various initiatives that “support wasteful and divisive projects, including doctoral dissertations on queer and trans community building in foreign countries,” the statement said.
California is joined by Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Nevada, New Mexico, and Oregon in filing the lawsuit.
All seven have Democratic attorneys general. Five of the seven voted for Democratic candidate Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election, while Nevada and Michigan voted for Trump.
