Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy is throwing a temper tantrum after a judge thwarted his plans to single out sanctuary cities.
“I directed states who want federal DOT money to comply with federal immigration laws,” Duffy wrote via X on Friday. “But, no surprise, an Obama-appointed judge has ruled that states can openly defy our federal immigration laws. This is judicial activism pure & simple and I will continue to fight in the courts.”
The Obama-appointed judge Duffy is complaining about is U.S. District Judge John McConnell, who ruled against Trump’s appointee after 20 states sued over the petty “Duffy Directive.” The directive refers to a handful of actions and policy changes that focus on rescinding regulations and grants around climate change, diversity and equity, and environmental justice, of which immigration and sanctuary cities obviously fall under.
“Congress did not authorize or grant authority to the Secretary of Transportation to impose immigration enforcement conditions on federal dollars specifically appropriated for transportation purposes,” he wrote in his preliminary injunction.
In other words, McConnell is asking what everyone else is: why is the guy from MTV’s “Road Rules” trying to make calls on what states do with immigrants?
Shouldn’t he, maybe, be focusing on his actual job of making sure that the airways are safe for travelers and aircraft operators?
Then again, when Duffy was supposed to be all hands on deck last month following another Federal Aviation Administration disaster, he seemed particularly preoccupied with playing interior decorator and placing a painting of Jesus at a Marine Academy.
In May, Duffy and Kristi Noem’s Department of Homeland Security both pulled a now commonly used trick out of President Donald Trump’s playbook and decided to withhold billions of dollars in funding to sanctuary cities that were not cooperating with ICE.
On Duffy’s side, this meant that cities were not receiving federal funding for projects like bridges, road repairs, and other critical infrastructure projects. As for Noem, her department was withholding funding for disaster recovery and cybersecurity grants.
And while McConnell has shut down the “Duffy Directive,” Noem’s attack is still hanging over the sanctuary cities’ heads as the Trump administration continues to plow through their mass deportation efforts.