On September 29, 2025, Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul, New Jersey Attorney Matt Platkin, California Attorney General Rob Bonta, and Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha co-led a coalition of 12 attorneys general in filing a lawsuit to stop the Trump administration from unlawfully reallocating federal homeland security funding away from states based on their compliance with the administration’s political agenda.  Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) issues grants using the Homeland Security Grant Program (HSGP) to provide states and local governments with critical resources to plan for and prevent natural disasters, terrorist attacks and other emergencies. Grant awards are based on the relative threat of terrorist activity in the area.  

On September 27, 2025, FEMA issued award notifications and granted only $226 million to the states filing the lawsuit. This was a $233 million—or 51%— reduction from the total amount that FEMA had previously stated it would provide to these states. This move by FEMA came just days after a coalition of attorneys general secured a permanent injunction along with an opinion holding that agencies violated the Constitution and the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) by conditioning all federal funds from FEMA and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) on states’ agreement to assist the federal government in enforcing federal immigration law. Now DHS is reallocating hundreds of millions of dollars away from the coalition states. DHS has provided no reason for this sudden redirection of funds right before the end of the fiscal year. The attorney general coalition argues that the decision is a violation both of the law that authorizes HSGP and of the APA. The attorneys general seek a court order halting the administration’s policy of reallocating these funds and requiring DHS to restore funding to the coalition states.  

On September 30, 2025, the judge issued a temporary restraining order blocking the Trump administration from reallocating the funds.

The Trump administration is jeopardizing the safety of Americans in a chaotic and illegal attempt to coerce states into compliance with the president’s political agenda. Congress approved this funding with the understanding that our nation is at its strongest when all Americans, everywhere, are protected from terrorism. I ask the court to block this unlawful action. Attorney General Kwame Raoul