Maine sues Trump admin over funding freeze for refusal to keep trans athletes out of women's sports

Maine officials filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) on Monday following the agency’s decision to freeze funding to the state for its refusal to reverse its transgender athlete participation policy in schools.

The state accused the USDA of "withholding funding used to feed children in schools, childcare centers, and after-school programming as well as disabled adults in congregate settings."

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"Under the banner of keeping children safe, the Trump Administration is illegally withholding grant funds that go to keeping children fed," Maine Attorney General Aaron Frey said in a news release. "This is just another example where no law or consequence appears to restrain the administration as it seeks capitulation to its lawlessness. 

"The President and his cabinet secretaries do not make the law and they are not above the law, and this action is necessary to remind the President that Maine will not be bullied into violating the law."

Frey added that the funding freeze was "unlawful" and sought a temporary restraining order against the department from withholding the funds.

Fox News Digital reached out to the U.S. Department of Agriculture for comment.

The USDA announced the funding freeze and a review of federal funding to Maine after the state refused to provide equal opportunities to women and girls in educational programs.

The state has refused to comply with President Donald Trump's February executive order to ban trans athletes from girls' and women's sports, prompting immense federal pressure. Trump initially vowed to cut federal funding to the state if it refused to comply with the order during a Feb. 20 speech.

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USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins said the state must agree to protect female athletes from trans inclusion before funding is restored. 

"In order to continue to receive taxpayer dollars from USDA, the state of Maine must demonstrate compliance with Title IX which protects female student athletes from having to compete with or against or having to appear unclothed before males," Rollins wrote in a letter to the state. 

"In addition, USDA has launched a full review of grants awarded by the Biden Administration to the Maine Department of Education. Many of these grants appear to be wasteful, redundant, or otherwise against the priorities of the Trump Administration. USDA will not stand for the Biden Administration’s bloated bureaucracy and will instead focus on a Department that is farmer-first and without a leftist social agenda."

Frey alleged that the "Child Nutrition Program of the Maine Department of Education was unable to access several sources of federal funding, all of which are necessary to feed children and vulnerable adults" after Rollins had signaled the funding freeze wouldn’t affect programs that keep children fed.

The Department of Education also referred Maine's "noncompliance with Title IX" to the Justice Department. The agency gave the state until April 11 to comply.

Fox News' Jennifer Johnson and Jackson Thompson contributed to this report.

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