Overview

• California led a coalition of 12 attorneys general in filing suit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island, seeking a temporary restraining order to halt FEMA and DHS from reallocating and disbursing Homeland Security Grant Program funds.
• Weekend award notices showed sharp reductions for several plaintiffs: California’s allocation fell about 33% to $110 million, Illinois dropped 69%, and New York was cut roughly 86%–87% or $187 million.
• New York officials say the cuts would strip about $100 million from the NYPD and $15 million from the FDNY, with additional losses for Joint Task Force Empire Shield and local agencies across the state.
• The complaint alleges politically driven punishment of ‘sanctuary’ jurisdictions despite statutes requiring risk-based distribution, noting a recent federal ruling that blocked immigration-related conditions on similar grants and citing increases for some red states.
• DHS announced $3.5 billion in non-disaster awards and said programs were reviewed for waste, fraud and abuse, but has not publicly explained the specific reductions now under challenge, and plaintiffs warn undisbursed funds could become irrecoverable as the fiscal deadline arrives.