US President Donald Trump meets French President Emmanuel Macron at the White House in Washington, DC, on February 24, 2025.
Brian Snyder | Reuters
Three federal judges handled Tuesday Trump administration Falling setbacks in different court cases involving federal spending, refugee and foreign aid.
In one case, judges widen barriers to Trump administration freezing Federal spending About grants, loans and other financial aid.
“Frozen from the beginning, the freeze was poorly conceived from the beginning,” Judge Loren Alikhan wrote in a comment published in the U.S. District Court of Washington, D.C.
Alikhan wrote: “The defendants either almost stopped up to $3 trillion in federal spending overnight, or they hoped that each federal agency would review their every time in less than twenty-four hours. Grants, loans and funds for compliance.”
“The breadth of the order is almost incredible.”
The frozen funds are part of the government’s so-called Doge effort to cut federal spending. Billionaire Elon Musk is overseeing the initiative.
In another case, a judge in the Washington State federal court blocked the president’s executive order Donald Trump This suspends refugee enrollment programs in the United States.
Judge Jamal Whitehead said in his ruling: “The president has substantial discretion to suspend refugee admissions. However, that power is not unlimited.”
“He can’t ignore the detailed framework for Congress’ admissions for refugees and its limitations on the ability of the president to suspend,” Whitehead said.
In the third case, in the federal court in Washington, D.C., Judge Amir Ali ordered the Trump administration to release foreign aid funds.
Ali’s order was conducted at the end of the hearing, and lawyers from the aid group told him that the money the judge had previously said should be paid to the group was still frozen.
NBC News’ Dareh Gregorian and Gary Grumbach contributed to this post
