New York Attorney General Letitia James on Tuesday led a coalition of 22 other attorneys general in a legal effort to compel the Trump administration to release hundreds of millions of dollars in essential Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) funds.
Despite multiple court orders --including a preliminary injunction issued on March 6 -- the Trump administration continues to withhold FEMA funds, jeopardizing emergency preparedness and recovery programs addressing wildfires, floods, cybersecurity threats and more, according to a press release.
James and the coalition filed a motion to enforce the preliminary injunction, seeking a court order that would require the administration to immediately unfreeze FEMA funds. The coalition of attorney generals including from California, Illinois, Massachusetts, New Jersey and Rhode Island. Joining the coalition are the attorneys general of Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii and Maine.
They argue that the continued freeze violates federal court orders and threatens critical resources needed for emergency response and recovery nationwide.
“The Trump administration is putting lives at risk by continuing to freeze disaster relief and emergency preparedness funds to states. We sued to stop the administration’s reckless and illegal funding freeze, and the court has repeatedly ruled that the essential funding our communities rely on must be restored," said James. "I will continue to fight to uphold our laws and protect the resources we need to keep New Yorkers safe.”
The funding freeze originated from a Jan. 27 memorandum issued by the Office of Management and Budget, which James and the coalition argue illegally withheld federal funds from states, nonprofits and community health centers. In the immediate aftermath, states were unable to access Medicaid dollars, and funding for New York City nonprofits that serve homeless veterans was halted.
The freeze has particularly impacted New York's Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services, with tens of millions of dollars in federal grants frozen, threatening disaster preparedness and recovery efforts.
