ALBANY, N.Y. (ENXSTAR) — New York Attorney General Letitia James and 19 other state attorneys general sued the U.S. Department of Homeland Security on May 13. They want to block new conditions on billions of dollars in disaster relief and emergency preparedness grants to immigration enforcement, according to the complaint filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island.

The attorneys general want the court to protect the “lifesaving emergency preparedness and response funds” Congress appropriated to keep communities safe from hurricanes, floods, and cyberattacks—without strings attached to any immigration policy. The coalition argues that the department’s civil immigration conditions exceed statutory authority, violate the Spending Clause of the Constitution, and commandeer state law enforcement resources. That’s why they want a judgment declaring those conditions unconstitutional and unlawful, and an injunction that prevents DHS and its subagencies from enforcing them.

DHS currently requires states to lend law enforcement and other resources to federal deportations or forfeit funding for programs created after national emergencies like September 11 and Hurricane Katrina. But Congress designed the grants to pay first responder salaries, run search and rescues, store food for disaster survivors, and improve security against attacks, not to enforce immigration law, according to the lawsuit.

Per the lawsuit, DHS lacks any legal justification to implement these new conditions, nor did they offer guidance on complying without violating anyone’s civil rights or undermining community trust. And it said that forcing state officers into federal service ignores the Constitution’s rule preventing the feds from commandeering state resources to carry out policies.

According to the lawsuit, the affected grant programs include the Nonprofit Security Grant Program, which brought $44 million to New York for security upgrades at houses of worship and schools last year. The Empire State also depends on more than $30 billion in FEMA Public Assistance funding for recovery from Superstorm Sandy, COVID, and tornadoes and floods upstate in 2024, the complaint says.

Attorney General James called the new terms “a sword of Damocles” over states’ budgets and safety plans. “DHS is holding states hostage by forcing them to choose between disaster preparedness and enabling the administration’s illegal and chaotic immigration agenda,” read the May 13 press release from her office announcing the lawsuit.

Check out the complaint below from New York, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Washington, Wisconsin, and Vermont:

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