The city of Los Angeles has joined more than two dozen local governments across the nation that challenge alleged Trump administration attempts to place conditions on emergency and disaster preparedness funds, the City Attorney’s Office announced on Wednesday.
The lawsuit filed in federal court in Northern California alleges the federal government has threatened to withhold more than $350 million in Department of Homeland Security and Federal Emergency Management Agency grants unless the municipalities assist in the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement efforts, as well as abandon their own diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives.
According to the Los Angeles City Attorney’s Office, the city could lose roughly $56 million in DHS grant funds during the 2025-26 fiscal year. The funds could be used to pay for salaries, training, and supplies for the city’s Urban Search & Rescue task force; radiation and nuclear detection equipment; staffing costs for an additional 12 LAFD firefighters; maintenance and repairs of four LAPD watercraft used to patrol the Port of Los Angeles; and other homeland security and emergency preparedness activities, according to attorneys.
The lawsuit seeks a court order preventing the federal government from imposing any such conditions and a declaration that states those conditions are unconstitutional.
The complaint states that the local governments “now face a choice that is not only untenable and unlawful, but also urgent: either accept conditions that are unconstitutional and contrary to law, or lose millions of dollars in federal grant funding used to keep their residents safe and ensure continuity of government.”
“The Trump administration’s unprecedented weaponization of federal emergency management grants is unconscionable and unconstitutional,” Los Angeles City Attorney Hydee Feldstein Soto said in a statement. “Congress appropriated these funds to keep millions of residents safe, and placing unlawful conditions on these funds puts millions of lives at risk. I am proud to be part of this coalition that is fighting to protect our respective residents and preserve constitutional limits on executive overreach.”
The city of Los Angeles is also part of separate, but similar litigation filed earlier this year alleging that funds for key city services in the form of Department of Transportation and U.S. Housing and Urban Development grants are being threatened unless the city and other local governments adhere to Trump administration policies.
Source: NBC Los Angeles