(Hartford, CT) – Attorney General William Tong joined a coalition of 26 states in filing a lawsuit challenging actions by the Trump administration that would place new conditions on billions of dollars in federal counterterrorism and emergency preparedness funding.
The lawsuit challenges decisions by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to impose conditions on federal funding appropriated by Congress for states to prepare for and respond to emergencies, natural disasters, and acts of terrorism.
According to the lawsuit, the challenged conditions would require states to change the way they conduct elections, including transmitting lists of registered voters to DHS, and assist DHS in enforcing federal immigration law. The lawsuit also challenges a provision that would allow DHS to terminate federal grants at any time.
“Once again, Donald Trump is playing politics with disaster relief. He cannot hold billions of dollars in funding hostage to force states to carry out his political agenda. This is not how our Constitution works, and not how federal grants work. We stopped similar illegal threats in court twice before, and we’re going to do it again,” said Attorney General Tong.
Attorney General Tong previously joined two lawsuits in 2025 challenging similar DHS actions that sought to condition emergency funding on states’ agreement to enforce federal immigration law and to redirect homeland security funding.
The lawsuit states that the 2026 grant conditions would affect billions of dollars in funding, including more than $1 billion through the Homeland Security Grant Program (HSGP), which supports efforts to protect communities from terrorism, cyberattacks, and other threats. Connecticut receives more than $4 million annually in HSGP funding for state and municipal counterterrorism efforts.
According to the complaint, DHS and FEMA are seeking to require states to assist with federal immigration enforcement, withhold 20 percent of Homeland Security Grant Program funding unless states adopt certain election-related requirements, and reserve the authority to terminate grant programs at any time.
The attorneys general argue the challenged grant conditions violate the Administrative Procedure Act and the Spending Clause of the U.S. Constitution.
Joining Attorney General Tong in filing the lawsuit are the attorneys general of California, Arizona, Colorado, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Mexico, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, and Wisconsin, as well as the governors of Kentucky and Pennsylvania.