'Campaign of coercion': Trump admin sued over tying FEMA disaster aid to election rules
WASHINGTON, DC: Twenty-five Democratic attorneys general sued the Trump administration, alleging it unlawfully tied FEMA disaster grants to election and immigration policies.
The coalition accused the administration of ignoring earlier court setbacks over similar grant programs. They argue the new conditions unlawfully pressure states to adopt White House priorities in exchange for critical disaster funding.
States challenge FEMA grant conditions
California Attorney General Rob Bonta is leading the lawsuit, filed in federal court in Rhode Island against the Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Guardian reported on Friday, July 24.
According to the complaint, DHS and FEMA attached new requirements to more than $740 million in disaster preparedness and counterterrorism grants that amount to a "campaign of coercion."
The lawsuit alleges states seeking the funding must use a federal system to verify the citizenship of all voters and conduct post-election audits.
It also challenges an effort to withhold grants from states that refuse to help Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) carry out raids and deportations, a requirement the lawsuit notes was struck down by a federal court last year.
Bonta accused the administration of using disaster funding to advance unrelated political priorities.
"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," Bonta said in a statement.
FEMA defends common-sense measures
A FEMA spokesperson dismissed the lawsuit as "partisan pushback" from "leftwing politicians."
The spokesperson defended the administration's approach, saying, "Election security is national security, and protecting our critical infrastructure remains a top priority for the Trump Administration," the report said.
"These new requirements will preserve election integrity," the spokesperson added.
The lawsuit also targets a newly added provision that allows FEMA to cancel state grants if recipients are found to be misaligned with the agency's priorities.
Rob Bonta cites earlier court victories
The Democratic attorneys general pointed to two previous successful legal challenges involving the same grant programs, arguing the administration has continued imposing similar conditions despite those rulings, according to the report.
The complaint said DHS and FEMA appeared "undeterred" by those earlier losses.
In one of those cases, a Trump-appointed judge wrote, "To hold hostage funding for programs like these based solely on what appear to be Defendants' political whims is unconscionable and, at least here, unlawful."
Bonta said he expects the latest lawsuit to end the same way.
"The administration has already lost similar fights in court, and we expect this latest unlawful attempt to fail as well," he said. "Our communities deserve better than to have essential resources caught up in political games."
