States sue Trump admin for withholding $148M in disaster aid over ‘unlawful’ election demands

A group of 25 states and Washington, D.C. is suing the Trump administration, accusing federal officials of leveraging billions of dollars in federal disaster grant funding in an attempt to coerce states into implementing the president’s anti-voting agenda.

The states filed the lawsuit Thursday in federal court in Rhode Island, naming the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) as defendants. 

FEMA and DHS plan to withhold 20% of the states’ federal disaster grant funding — at least $148 million — if they do not make changes to their election systems demanded by President Donald Trump. 

By doing that, the administration is taking hostage federal funds states need to provide a vast range of disaster services, from mitigating earthquake and flood risks to managing active wildfires, the plaintiffs argued in their complaint.

On July 9, DHS issued guidance explaining that FEMA would withhold the funds until states submitted “proof of compliance” with the administration’s election requirements — including utilizing the flawed Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) system to conduct voter roll citizenship verification checks, transitioning to voting equipment that accepts hand-marked paper ballots and conducting post-election manual audits.

While many red states have raced to enact President Donald Trump’s policy goals — even ones that have been blocked by the courts — blue states have persistently refused. 

In their complaint, Democratic-controlled states blasted the administration, saying Trump is trying to upend their election systems by imposing a set of “radical new conditions” and “unlawful demands.”

The states also criticized the administration for attempting to tie federal funds to compliance with the president’s immigration enforcement agenda, including provisions that have been blocked by the courts.

“Congress never gave DHS or FEMA authority to rewrite state election law, require cooperation with federal immigration agents, or terminate federal funding streams at any time and for any reason,” the complaint states.