LOS ANGELES, July 24 (Xinhua) -- Twenty-four U.S. state attorneys general and two governors filed a lawsuit Thursday challenging conditions tied to federal election, immigration and grant-termination policies for disaster and counterterrorism funding.
The complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island, alleges that the conditions exceed the authority of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and violate the Administrative Procedure Act and the U.S. Constitution's Spending Clause.
The attorneys general of California, Illinois, New Jersey and Rhode Island are co-leading the case, according to California Attorney General Rob Bonta's office. The coalition represents 25 states and the District of Columbia.
One set of conditions requires states to take election-related measures to receive full funding under the Homeland Security Grant Program (HSGP). These measures include verifying voter citizenship through a federal database, submitting plans to replace some bar-code or QR-code voting systems with equipment accepting hand-marked paper ballots and conducting post-election audits, among other steps.
FEMA said it would withhold 20 percent of each award until recipients submitted proof of compliance. DHS guidance said sustained noncompliance could lead to further remedies, including partial or total termination.
Another set of conditions requires fiscal year 2026 grant recipients to cooperate with federal immigration enforcement, including short-term detention under valid immigration detainers. The complaint said DHS and FEMA had not yet determined whether those provisions would apply to HSGP and other emergency grant programs.
The same Rhode Island federal court vacated and permanently enjoined materially similar immigration conditions in 2025, according to the complaint.
A third set of conditions allows FEMA to terminate awards if they no longer advance program goals or agency priorities. It also allows termination of discretionary awards for convenience, including when they no longer serve the national interest, following an Aug. 7, 2025 executive order.
The plaintiff jurisdictions were allocated more than 740 million U.S. dollars in fiscal year 2026 HSGP funds, with at least 148 million dollars subject to withholding under election-related conditions, according to the complaint. California and its cities receive about 150 million dollars annually through the program, Bonta's office said.
Bonta said the administration "is trying to bully state and local governments" into adopting its preferred policies.
In a July 10 statement, DHS said the election-related conditions were intended to address evolving threats to election systems. In a separate July 17 statement, the department said it had identified more than 250,000 potential noncitizens on voter rolls in California, New Jersey, Nevada and Pennsylvania. ■
