Indian-American judge blocks Trump’s $10B social safety net freeze, faces MAGA backlash online. Photos: X.
Arun Subramanian, an Indian-American federal judge, on Friday temporarily halted the Trump administration’s freeze on $10 billion in social safety net funding, restoring federal grants to five Democratic-led states. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) had announced earlier this week that the freeze, affecting California, Colorado, Illinois, Minnesota, and New York, was implemented due to “serious concerns about widespread fraud and misuse of taxpayer dollars in state-administered programs.”
The states, however, warned that the freeze was already creating “operational chaos,” according to The Associated Press. Programs impacted include the Child Care and Development Fund, the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program, and the Social Services Block Grant, which provides funding for a variety of programs serving low-income families with children.
District Judge Arun Subramanian granted the states’ request for a temporary restraining order, aiming to “protect the status quo” while the case is litigated. The order will expire in 14 days unless further court action is taken.
“This decision is a critical victory for families whose lives have been upended by this administration’s cruelty. From childcare to shelter services for survivors of domestic violence, these funds provide resources that hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers depend on,” said New York Attorney General Letitia James (D).
She added, “This illegal funding freeze should have never happened, and I will keep fighting to uphold the law and protect funding that our communities need.”
The funding freeze by HHS followed revelations of a major welfare fraud scandal in Minnesota, which had drawn Republican scrutiny.
Judge Arun Subramanian’s ruling has made him a target of harsh criticism from MAGA supporters, showing a troubling trend in which judges of Indian origin face xenophobic backlash for rulings blocking Trump-era policies.
On platforms such as X, critics labeled Subramanian a “Biden appointee” and a “DEI hire,” suggesting he was selected for his ethnicity rather than merit. Some posts escalated to overt xenophobia, calling him an “anchor baby” and demanding his deportation to India, despite his U.S. citizenship.
Others accused him of “judicial insurrection” and claimed he was shielding “Somali scams.” Stephen Miller, a senior Trump adviser, described the ruling as forcing Americans to “fund infinite refugee daycare scams,” framing it as anti-American.
Arun Srinivas Subramanian, born in 1979 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to Indian immigrant parents, has built a notable legal career. His father worked as a control systems engineer, and his mother was a bookkeeper.
Arun Subramanian earned a Bachelor of Arts from Case Western Reserve University and a Juris Doctor (JD) from Columbia Law School in 2004. He is the first South Asian judge appointed to the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York.
Zubair Amin is a Senior Journalist at NewsX with over seven years of experience in reporting and editorial work. He has written for leading national and international publications, including Foreign Policy Magazine, Al Jazeera, The Economic Times, The Indian Express, The Wire, Article 14, Mongabay, News9, among others. His primary focus is on international affairs, with a strong interest in US politics and policy. He also writes on West Asia, Indian polity, and constitutional issues. Zubair tweets at zubaiyr.amin
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