US states sue Trump over disaster aid tied to elections and immigration
More than two dozen US states have sued the Trump administration over disaster grant conditions tied to elections and immigration. The case tests whether Washington can use public safety funding to force state policy changes.
More than two dozen US states on Thursday sued the Trump administration over a requirement that they meet election and immigration conditions to receive billions of dollars in federal disaster funding. The lawsuit challenges policies of the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Department of Homeland Security.
The states said the administration is trying to force them to change their election systems and assist DHS with immigration enforcement. They also said the conditions would let DHS end grants at any time and for any reason.
The case was filed in Rhode Island. According to the lawsuit, attaching such conditions to funding approved by Congress violates the Administrative Procedure Act and the spending clause of the US Constitution. A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
"Once again, the Trump Administration is threatening to jeopardise public safety by unlawfully withholding billions in critical funding and once again, they won't get away with it," Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha said. "This Administration is using the safety of Americans as collateral by attempting to bully the states into relinquishing their constitutional right to enact policies and laws that best serve their residents."
The lawsuit is one of many challenges to the administration's efforts to push mostly Democratic states to follow its priorities in order to receive billions of dollars in federal funding. The same approach has been used in areas including education funding, domestic violence grants and highway funding. Courts have repeatedly ruled against the strategy. Last year, a court barred the administration from placing conditions on other FEMA funding, and this year another ruling blocked it from redirecting DHS funding away from states seen as not supporting its agenda.
In last year's ruling on transport funding, US District Judge John McConnell Jr wrote: "The States face losing billions of dollars in federal funding, are being put in a position of relinquishing their sovereign right to decide how to use their own police officers, are at risk of losing the trust built between local law enforcement and immigrant communities, and will have to scale back, reconsider, or cancel ongoing transportation projects."
The latest lawsuit said the administration is now trying to impose some of the same conditions on 2026 funding after failing to do so with last year's funding. Among the requirements being challenged is a demand that states move to paper-ballot systems, carry out a manual audit of voting systems, reconcile voters and verify the citizenship of every registered voter in state voter databases.
The states said that if they do not comply, they could lose at least 20 per cent of their Homeland Security Grant Program funding, which is used for measures to protect people from cyberattacks and terrorism. The lawsuit also comes against the backdrop of Trump's repeated claims, without evidence, that mail voting is rife with fraud after his 2020 election loss to Joe Biden, even though repeated audits and investigations, including some run by Republicans, found no widespread fraud. In essence, the states have asked the court to block conditions they say unlawfully tie disaster and security funding to election changes and immigration enforcement.
With PTI Inputs
More than two dozen US states on Thursday sued the Trump administration over a requirement that they meet election and immigration conditions to receive billions of dollars in federal disaster funding. The lawsuit challenges policies of the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Department of Homeland Security.
The states said the administration is trying to force them to change their election systems and assist DHS with immigration enforcement. They also said the conditions would let DHS end grants at any time and for any reason.
The case was filed in Rhode Island. According to the lawsuit, attaching such conditions to funding approved by Congress violates the Administrative Procedure Act and the spending clause of the US Constitution. A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
"Once again, the Trump Administration is threatening to jeopardise public safety by unlawfully withholding billions in critical funding and once again, they won't get away with it," Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha said. "This Administration is using the safety of Americans as collateral by attempting to bully the states into relinquishing their constitutional right to enact policies and laws that best serve their residents."
The lawsuit is one of many challenges to the administration's efforts to push mostly Democratic states to follow its priorities in order to receive billions of dollars in federal funding. The same approach has been used in areas including education funding, domestic violence grants and highway funding. Courts have repeatedly ruled against the strategy. Last year, a court barred the administration from placing conditions on other FEMA funding, and this year another ruling blocked it from redirecting DHS funding away from states seen as not supporting its agenda.
In last year's ruling on transport funding, US District Judge John McConnell Jr wrote: "The States face losing billions of dollars in federal funding, are being put in a position of relinquishing their sovereign right to decide how to use their own police officers, are at risk of losing the trust built between local law enforcement and immigrant communities, and will have to scale back, reconsider, or cancel ongoing transportation projects."
The latest lawsuit said the administration is now trying to impose some of the same conditions on 2026 funding after failing to do so with last year's funding. Among the requirements being challenged is a demand that states move to paper-ballot systems, carry out a manual audit of voting systems, reconcile voters and verify the citizenship of every registered voter in state voter databases.
The states said that if they do not comply, they could lose at least 20 per cent of their Homeland Security Grant Program funding, which is used for measures to protect people from cyberattacks and terrorism. The lawsuit also comes against the backdrop of Trump's repeated claims, without evidence, that mail voting is rife with fraud after his 2020 election loss to Joe Biden, even though repeated audits and investigations, including some run by Republicans, found no widespread fraud. In essence, the states have asked the court to block conditions they say unlawfully tie disaster and security funding to election changes and immigration enforcement.
With PTI Inputs
More than two dozen US states on Thursday sued the Trump administration over a requirement that they meet election and immigration conditions to receive billions of dollars in federal disaster funding. The lawsuit challenges policies of the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Department of Homeland Security.
The states said the administration is trying to force them to change their election systems and assist DHS with immigration enforcement. They also said the conditions would let DHS end grants at any time and for any reason.
The case was filed in Rhode Island. According to the lawsuit, attaching such conditions to funding approved by Congress violates the Administrative Procedure Act and the spending clause of the US Constitution. A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
"Once again, the Trump Administration is threatening to jeopardise public safety by unlawfully withholding billions in critical funding and once again, they won't get away with it," Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha said. "This Administration is using the safety of Americans as collateral by attempting to bully the states into relinquishing their constitutional right to enact policies and laws that best serve their residents."
The lawsuit is one of many challenges to the administration's efforts to push mostly Democratic states to follow its priorities in order to receive billions of dollars in federal funding. The same approach has been used in areas including education funding, domestic violence grants and highway funding. Courts have repeatedly ruled against the strategy. Last year, a court barred the administration from placing conditions on other FEMA funding, and this year another ruling blocked it from redirecting DHS funding away from states seen as not supporting its agenda.
In last year's ruling on transport funding, US District Judge John McConnell Jr wrote: "The States face losing billions of dollars in federal funding, are being put in a position of relinquishing their sovereign right to decide how to use their own police officers, are at risk of losing the trust built between local law enforcement and immigrant communities, and will have to scale back, reconsider, or cancel ongoing transportation projects."
The latest lawsuit said the administration is now trying to impose some of the same conditions on 2026 funding after failing to do so with last year's funding. Among the requirements being challenged is a demand that states move to paper-ballot systems, carry out a manual audit of voting systems, reconcile voters and verify the citizenship of every registered voter in state voter databases.
The states said that if they do not comply, they could lose at least 20 per cent of their Homeland Security Grant Program funding, which is used for measures to protect people from cyberattacks and terrorism. The lawsuit also comes against the backdrop of Trump's repeated claims, without evidence, that mail voting is rife with fraud after his 2020 election loss to Joe Biden, even though repeated audits and investigations, including some run by Republicans, found no widespread fraud. In essence, the states have asked the court to block conditions they say unlawfully tie disaster and security funding to election changes and immigration enforcement.
With PTI Inputs
