Attorney General Charity Clark and a coalition of 11 other attorneys general, along with the governor of Pennsylvania, have succeeded in their lawsuit against the Trump administration over the reallocation of federal homeland security funding. The U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island granted their motion for summary judgment, blocking what they argued were politically motivated cuts to states’ funding.
The dispute began on September 27 when the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) reduced funding to certain states that did not align with the administration’s approach to federal immigration enforcement. These reductions came just four days before the end of the federal fiscal year, without prior notice or explanation. The affected states, which declined to shift law enforcement resources from core public safety functions to assist in enforcing federal immigration law, saw significant decreases in their Homeland Security Grant Program (HSGP) allocations.
The HSGP distributes about $1 billion annually to support state and local efforts against terrorism. However, FEMA awarded only $250 million to Vermont and the other plaintiff states—a reduction of $242 million or 49% compared to previous commitments. Some states experienced even larger percentage cuts: Illinois received 69% less than anticipated, losing over $30 million, while New York faced a 79% cut amounting to more than $100 million. The funds removed from these states were redirected elsewhere.
U.S. District Court Judge Mary McElroy concluded that DHS had considered state policies on immigration enforcement when making these funding decisions. In her ruling, she stated: “Neither a law degree nor a degree in mathematics is required to deduce that no plausible, rational formula could produce this result,” adding that “Nor could any reasonable, data-driven approach have resulted in the obviously manual increases in awards to favored jurisdictions.”
As a result of the decision, DHS must revise its HSGP awards so that plaintiff states receive the amounts previously indicated before last-minute changes were made.
Other parties joining Attorney General Clark included attorneys general from California, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Illinois, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island and Washington as well as Pennsylvania’s governor.
A copy of the court order is available on Vermont Attorney General’s website.