Democratic Attorneys General Sue Trump Administration Over FEMA Disaster-Funding Conditions

Twenty-five Democratic state attorneys general, led by California Attorney General Rob Bonta, have filed a federal suit in Rhode Island challenging new conditions imposed by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) on disaster-preparedness and counter-terrorism grants. The lawsuit alleges that the agencies are attaching “unlawful” requirements—such as mandatory voter-citizenship verification, post-election audits, and cooperation with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids—to more than $740 million in combined grant funding. A newly added clause also permits FEMA to cancel state grants that do not align with the administration’s priorities.

The Guardian

The attorneys general note that this is not the first challenge to the grant programs. The current filing follows those decisions, asserting that the administration continues to use funding as leverage for its voting-security and immigration agenda.

The Guardian

A FEMA spokesperson described the lawsuit as “partisan pushback” against “commonsense measures” and emphasized that “election security is national security” and that protecting critical infrastructure remains a top priority for the administration. The spokesperson also argued that the new requirements will preserve election integrity. The attorneys general contend that the conditions amount to a “campaign of coercion” designed to force states to adopt the White House’s preferred policies in exchange for essential disaster aid.

The Guardian

• “President Trump has little support for both his mass deportation agenda and his baseless claims of election fraud, so instead, he’s trying to bully state and local governments into adopting his preferred policies in exchange for much-needed funding,” — California’s Rob Bonta

The Guardian

• “The administration has already lost similar fights in court, and we expect this latest unlawful attempt to fail as well,” — California’s Rob Bonta

The Guardian

If successful, the suit could remove the voting-security and ICE-cooperation mandates from future FEMA disaster grants, restoring unfettered access to federal aid for states. The plaintiffs expect the courts to follow prior rulings and reject what they describe as “unlawful attempts” to politicize disaster funding. The administration has signaled confidence in its position, but the litigation adds another high-profile test of the limits of federal conditionality on grant programs.

The Guardian