Trump admin pulls funding from Maine for allowing men identifying as women to be jailed with females

U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi announced Wednesday that the Trump administration had pulled all nonessential funding from Maine’s Department of Corrections after allowing a 6-foot-1, 245-pound man who identifies as a woman to be housed in prison for women.

Bondi spoke to “Fox and Friends” host Lawrence Jones about several topics, including President Donald Trump’s authority to determine where federal funding is delivered.

“We can determine where that money goes — all federal money,” Bondi said before directing the discussion to Maine. “What’s happening there is they’re not abiding by what President Trump said. They’re allowing men [in] women’s sports. 

“And in the case right now, what we did last night, some breaking news — we pulled all nonessential funding from the Department of Corrections in Maine because they were allowing a man in a woman’s prison, a giant 6-foot-1, 245-pound guy who committed a double murder with a knife, stabbed his parents to death and the family dog, and, he identified as a woman,” she continued. “So, they were letting him be housed in a female prison? No longer. We will pull your funding. We will protect women in prison. We will protect women in sports. We will protect women throughout this country. No more of that.”

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In January, Andrea Balcer, a 24-year-old born “Andrew,” was moved from the Maine State Prison to the women’s section of the Maine Correctional Institute, Bangor Daily News reported.

Balcer was convicted in 2018 of stabbing both of his parents to death along with the family dog, and sentenced to 40 years in prison for the crime that Balcer blamed on struggles with gender identity.

Maine’s prison policy allows inmates to be housed based on their gender identity if they have been diagnosed with gender dysphoria, and officials believe it is in the inmate’s best interest to be classified by the gender they identify with.

Balcer was originally listed as male in Department of Corrections documents after the conviction, but state records were updated to list him as a female inmate.

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Along with allowing a transfer inmate to be held in a prison for women, Maine has refused to comply with 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. 

On Tuesday, 14 state lawmakers in Maine penned a letter to the White House condemning Gov. Janet Mills for her continued support of trans inclusion in girls’ sports.

The senators claim that Maine’s current policies that enable trans inclusion violate the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), as well as Title IX. 

“Dear Mr. President, As you know, the working people of Maine agree with your commonsense approach to protect women’s sports and spaces. We applaud your administration’s efforts to bring Maine into compliance with not only the protections for women and girls guaranteed under the nation’s landmark Title IX of the Educational Amendments of 1972, but what has also been identified as violations of the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974,” the letter read.

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The lawmakers claim the majority of adults in Maine do not support Mills’ policy of forcing girls to compete against boys in athletics.

The 14 state senators who signed the letter include Senate Republican leader Trey Stewart, assistant leader Matthew Harrington, Susan Bernard, Richard Bradstreet, Bruce Bickford, Scott Cryway, Russell Black, Brad Farrin, Stacey Guerin, Joseph Martin, David Haggan, Marianne Moore, James Libby and Jeff Timberlake. 

A survey by the American Parents Coalition found that out of about 600 registered Maine voters, 63% said school sports participation should be based on biological sex, and 66% agreed it’s “only fair to restrict women’s sports to biological women.”

The poll also found that 60% of residents would support a ballot measure limiting participation in women’s and girls sports to biological females. This included 64% of independents and 66% of parents with kids under age 18.

Fox News Digital’s Jackson Thompson and Andrew Mark Miller contributed to this report.