FEMA extends deadline to apply for wildfire relief
FEMA has extended the deadline for L.A. wildfire victims to apply for federal aid to March 31. It was set to expire on March 10.
Fox – LA
A federal judge ruled on Friday that President Donald Trump’s administration violated a court order by halting the disbursement of hundreds of millions of dollars in Federal Emergency Management Agency grants to states.
U.S. District Judge John McConnell in Providence, Rhode Island, sided with Democratic state attorneys general in finding that the funding pause violated his injunction blocking the administration’s earlier sweeping pause of federal grants, loans and other financial aid.
Those attorneys general from 22 states and the District of Columbia said that FEMA had been halting disbursements since early February to conduct a “manual review” of grants without clearly explaining when the process would end.
They said the funding freeze at FEMA appeared to be tied to an executive order the Republican president signed on his first day in office on Jan. 20 as part of his immigration crackdown that targeted so-called “sanctuary jurisdictions.”
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, whose department oversees FEMA, subsequently issued a memo directing restrictions on grant funding to sanctuary jurisdictions, which have laws that prevent state and local law enforcement from assisting federal civil immigration officers, according to court papers.