A coalition of more than 25 US cities and counties filed suit Monday to challenge new conditions on federal emergency management grants, alleging that the Trump administration has unlawfully threatened $350 million in congressionally approved FEMA and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) funds.
Plaintiffs filed in the US District Court for the Northern District of California, and include municipalities representing more than 30 million residents. Among them are California cities Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco, and Oakland; King County, Washington; and Tucson, Arizona.
The lawsuit argues that DHS exceeded its statutory authority and violated the Constitution’s Spending Clause by attaching unrelated requirements to critical disaster preparedness, fire safety, and transit security funding. The complaint also contended that the conditions interfere with local government discretion over law enforcement priorities and expose them to potential liability under the False Claims Act.
A day earlier, a coalition of twelve state attorneys general announced a parallel lawsuit against DHS and FEMA. Washington Attorney General Nick Brown said the administration unlawfully reallocated Homeland Security funding away from states that declined to divert law enforcement resources to immigration enforcement. The attorneys general of Illinois, New Jersey, California, and Rhode Island led the coalition, joined by Brown and counterparts from Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New York, and Vermont.
According to the complaint, FEMA awarded only $226 million under its Homeland Security Grant Program, a 51 percent reduction from prior commitments, with steep cuts to New York (79 percent, over $100 million) and Illinois (69 percent, more than $30 million). Washington lost $2 million and saw its expenditure timeline cut from three years to one. Brown characterized the cuts as “reckless and destructive,” arguing that the administration is undermining core public safety services for political purposes.
