The judge ordered the government to release frozen foreign aid.
Federal officials told a US judge on Feb. 25 that they could not comply with an order calling for the release of frozen foreign aid within two days.
The order of US District Judge Amir H. Ali closed on February 26 at 11:59pm ET, but with approximately 2,000 unpaid payments to US International Development Agency. This means paying at least $1.5 billion on newly created requests. The official, who serves as deputy administrator of the agency, said in court filings.
They will also need to pay at least $400 million to resolve outstanding payment requests to the State Department, officials said.
“These payments will not be achieved in the time allocated by the court and will instead take several weeks,” he wrote.
Earlier on Tuesday, Ali has yet to be paid in hearings with government lawyers and lawyers representing the group who accused the freeze, despite his multiple previous orders, including February 13. The administration, which was said to be mandatory by Trump, will not freeze foreign aid.
“I don’t know why I can’t get a straightforward answer from you about this. Did you know that by February 13th, the frozen contracts and contract fund payments have not been frozen?” During a Washington-based judge hearing, he asked government lawyer Indrael Sur. “Do you know the steps that were actually taken to release those funds?”
“I’m not in a position to answer that,” Sur said.
This is the second time a judge has discovered that the Trump administration has not complied with court orders. Judge John McConnell, a US District Judge for Rhode Island, also said that the administration has completely unzen federal grants and loans within the United States after the government blocked plans to suspend trillion dollars in government spending. I discovered this month that I hadn’t done it.
In the Washington case, the plaintiff recently filed an emergency motion to enforce a judge’s temporary restraining order.
Ali granted the emergency motion during Tuesday’s hearing and ordered the government to comply by Thursday.
The Maroccan declaration received a government motion asking the judge to maintain the order, considering the federal court of appeals overturning it.
“The defendant is likely to successfully appeal from a court order on several reasons,” the government’s lawyer said in the filing. “Firstly, it is impossible for the accused to follow,” they said.
The government appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals in the District of Columbia.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
