California, other states are suing the Trump administration over ‘illegal’ conditions for disaster grants
California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta and other Democratic attorneys general are accusing the Trump administration of imposing “illegal” conditions on federal grants meant to help states prepare for and respond to disasters.
I the casefiled in federal court in Rhode Island on Thursday, says the Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Emergency Management Agency have been using their power over billions of dollars in federal grants to run what the attorney general sees as an aggressive “coercion” campaign to adopt the Trump administration’s preferred voting policies and immigration appeals.
“Congress has never given DHS or FEMA the authority to rewrite state election law, require cooperation with federal immigration agents, or end federal funding at any time for any reason,” the lawsuit says. The legislation was filed by a coalition of 24 attorneys general and Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear and Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, both Democrats.
A White House spokesman did not respond to a request for comment.
At the heart of their legal complaint are two federal programs: the Homeland Security Grants Program, which was established by Congress in response to the September 11 terrorist attacks, and the Emergency Operations Grants Program, which helps states pay for emergency management personnel who plan for and respond to natural disasters and mass casualty events, as well as software programs used by federal emergency operations agencies.
As for the national security grant, the Trump administration has attached new “tough” rules based on Trump’s preferred policies, the states argue.
These policies include verifying the citizenship of all individuals in the state’s voter database, converting their voting systems to machines that read hand-marked ballots and conducting post-election audits “in accordance with the guidelines to be established by the Secretary of Homeland Security,” according to the complaint.
And the Department of Homeland Security and FEMA have threatened to make states “commit to donating their scarce resources to the federal government’s immigration enforcement effort” in exchange for both homeland security and emergency management grants, according to the complaint.
In a news conference on Thursday, Bonta put the number.
“These grants help communities to prepare for emergencies before disasters occur,” he said. “They support emergency management personnel, strengthen disaster response capabilities, improve collaboration among first responders, and help protect our citizens when they need government most.”
The Trump administration’s restrictions will mean “our communities will have fewer resources to prepare for wildfires, earthquakes, floods, terrorist threats, and other emergencies,” Bonta said.
“Over time, the courts have told the corrupt Trump administration that they will not force California to do what it wants by threatening to withhold funding for Social Security,” said Gov. Gavin Newsom in a statement. “However, they will come back for more. This time they want states to rewrite their own election laws to get money to pay for public preparedness and response, and Congress has already approved it. We will not allow that.”
