Washington: A US federal judge has ordered that President Donald Trump’s administration cannot stop financial aid to five Democrat-ruled states under child care and ongoing programs for needy children and their families. California, Colorado, Illinois, Minnesota and New York said funding for three grant programs has been halted under a policy announced Tuesday, which has had an immediate impact on these states and significantly disrupted the operation of the programs.

Why was the funding stopped?

During the hearing and documents filed in the court on Friday, these states said that the government has no legal basis to stop funding to them. These five states say that under these programs they receive a total amount of more than 10 billion US dollars every year. The US Department of Health and Human Services said it had halted the funding because it believed these states were benefiting people living in the country illegally.

However, the department did not provide any evidence for this and also did not clarify why only these states were selected and not the other states. US District Judge Arun Subramaniam did not rule on the legality of stopping the funding. But he said that these five states have met the necessary legal standards to maintain the current status quo for at least 14 days while the court hearing continues. AP Khari Gola Gola.