A federal judge blocked the Trump administration Tuesday from adding new conditions for states to receive federal disaster aid funding through the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

The administration said in October that states need to recount their population figures and remove individuals who have been deported as a condition for funding, but a group of Democratic-led states sued over the new requirement last month.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Amy Potter said the government failed to sufficiently justify the change in FEMA's Emergency Management Performance Grant program, which supports disaster-readiness efforts, including training and staffing. 

“Defendant fails to explain why confirmation of population would be necessary or why accounting solely for those who have been removed—and not those, for example, who have moved between states—would lead to a more accurate apportionment than the use of data from the census bureau as required by law,” Potter wrote. 

The judge also weighed in on another federal program that the group challenged, which was under the Department of Homeland Security and provides funding to protect against and recover from “acts of terrorism and other threats," according to The Hill.

The Trump administration recently shortened the window that recipients could spend funds under the DHS program from three years to one year, but Potter ruled the change did not give states enough time to spend the federally approved funds.

“While the Court cannot substitute its judgment for that of the agency, the change in performance period, especially without backdating, makes it functionally impossible for Plaintiff States to use the funding that is allocated by statute,” Potter wrote. 

Misty Severi is a news reporter for Just The News. You can follow her on X for more coverage.