PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) -- A Rhode Island federal judge has ordered the Federal Emergency Management Agency to stop withholding grant funds to states, finding President Donald Trump's administration in violation of a preliminary injunction he issued last month. Rhode Island U.S. District Chief Ju dge John McConnell handed down the decision Friday, ordering FEMA to comply with the preliminary injunction and notifying everyone who administers FEMA grants of his decision within 48 hours. The order comes as part of the ongoing lawsuit nearly two dozen states filed against the Trump administration in January over the president's directives to freeze grants and other funds that Congress had already approved for states. On March 6, McConnell sided with the states and issued a preliminary injunction in the case, blocking any further freezing of the funding. But state attorneys general involved in the case came back within weeks, saying FEMA was flouting the decision by withholding grants for programs in at least 19 states. The programs included financial relief for victims of the 2023 wildfires in Maui, along with $130 million for Oregon local and tribal governments, $33 million for Colorado programs including flood prevention, and 10 programs awarded to Rhode Island for cybersecurity, emergency operations, homeland security and nonprofit security. Trump attorneys have pushed back at the allegations, saying in court documents that FEMA has been following a manual-review process that allows the agency to examine all grant payments before disbursing funds. The purpose of the manual-review process in part is to ensure that the programs are "free from fraud, waste and abuse," and Trump attorneys argued this process is within the power of the executive branch and doesn't violate the court's order. McConnell disagreed, however, and again sided with the states, writing "the states have presented evidence that strongly suggests that FEMA is implementing this manual review processed based, covertly, on the President's January 20, 2025 executive order." The executive order, dubbed "Protecting the American People Against Invasion," is designed in part to withhold federal funds from any "sanctuary" jurisdictions that don't assist the U.S. Department of Homeland Security with its immigration policies. "FEMA received notice of the preliminary injunction order, the order is clear and unambiguous, and there is no impediments to FEMA's compliance with the order," McConnell wrote. "The record makes clear that FEMA's manual review process imposes an indefinite pause on the disbursement of federal funds to states," he added. "Thus, FEMA's manual review process violates the court's preliminary injunction order." In addition to notifying all of its grant administers of the Friday decision, McConnell also ordered FEMA to immediately cease the challenged manual-review process, which was implemented by U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. This marks the second time McConnell has found the Trump administration in violation of an order in this case. He issued a similar ruling on March 10 after finding the executive branch continued to freeze federal funds in violation of a temporary restraining order just weeks earlier. Attorney General Peter Neronha, one of the plaintiffs in the case for Rhode Island, said of the latest ruling: “With this order, we are confirming what we already know: the President is not above the law.” “When the President and his administration continuously flout court orders, they are testing the boundaries of what they can get away with, and toying with American lives in the process,” he added. Enough is enough, and the court has made that crystal clear.” Eli Sherman (esherman@wpri.com) is a Target 12 investigative reporter for 12 News. Connect with him on Twitter and on Facebook. ...read more read less