More than 24 states sue Trump administration after it put conditions on
receiving disaster funding
[July 24, 2026]
By MICHAEL CASEY
BOSTON (AP) — More than two dozen states on Thursday sued the Trump
administration for requiring them to comply with election and
immigration conditions to receive billions of dollars in federal funding
for disasters.
The lawsuit, filed in Rhode Island and challenging Federal Emergency
Management Agency and Department of Homeland Security policies, argued
that the administration is requiring states to change their elections
systems and help DHS with immigration enforcement. The conditions would
also allow DHS to terminate grants at any time and for any reason.
“Once again, the Trump Administration is threatening to jeopardize
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 states argue putting conditions on congressionally appropriated
funding violates the Administrative Procedure Act and the U.S.
Constitution’s spending clause.
In a statement, a spokesperson for FEMA called the lawsuit an example of
“partisan pushback” and said they expected “these left-wing politicians
to oppose common-sense measures designed to protect election security
and safeguard the integrity of American democracy.”
“Election security is national security, and protecting our critical
infrastructure remains a top priority for the Trump Administration,”
they said. “Concerns over voting processes, data security, and
registration practices have made it clear that action is required.”
The lawsuit is one of scores that have challenged the Trump
administration over its repeated effort to browbeat mostly Democratic
states into complying with its priorities to get billions of dollars in
federal funding. The strategy has been used on everything from education
funding to domestic violence grants to highway funding.
The courts have repeatedly found this strategy to be unlawful and
unconstitutional. A ruling last year barred the administration from
putting conditions on other FEMA funding, and a second ruling this year
blocked the administration from redirecting DHS funding away from states
not seen as supportive of its agenda.
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People work at the Federal Emergency Management Agency headquarters
in Washington, Jan. 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson,
File)
“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,” U.S. District Judge John McConnell
Jr. wrote last year, when he barred the Transportation Secretary
Sean Duffy from cutting off transportation funds to states that did
not comply with immigration enforcement actions.
The latest lawsuit argues the administration is attempting to apply
some of the same conditions on 2026 funding, as it failed to do with
funding last year.
Among the requirements being challenged in Thursday's lawsuit is
that states change their elections systems. They must transition to
paper-ballot systems, conduct a manual audit of voting systems,
reconcile voters and verify the citizenship of every registered
voter in the state’s voter databases.
If states fail to comply, they risk losing at least 20% of their
Homeland Security Grant Program funding. That money is used to fund
measures to protect citizens from cyberattacks and terrorism.
“The Trump Administration is holding critical funding for homeland
security and disaster response hostage in their latest attempt to
take over our elections and perpetuate baseless conspiracy
theories,” Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, one of the plaintiffs in
the lawsuit, said in a statement.
Since his 2020 presidential election loss to Democrat Joe Biden,
Trump has groundlessly claimed mail voting is rife with fraud and
has launched a federal investigation into that year’s vote, even
though repeated audits and investigations, including ones run by
Republicans, found it was free of widespread fraud. Trump also has
said he wants to “take over” election administration in Democratic
areas.
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