California Attorney General Rob Bonta has joined a coalition of states in filing an amended complaint to challenge the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) latest condition for receiving Emergency Management Performance Grant funds. The new requirement, introduced by DHS, obliges states to certify their current populations using data that the states do not possess, rather than relying on census figures.
Attorney General Bonta criticized the move: “The Trump Administration continues to throw things at the wall to see what sticks; the answer is: none of it. If the President wants to stop losing in court, he should stop breaking the law, not wasting our time with yet another ridiculous effort to withhold homeland security funding by imposing an impossible — and obviously illegal — new condition,” said Attorney General Bonta. “DHS wants us to certify to population information that only DHS has, on a timeline that lacks basic commonsense. This is part and parcel for an Administration that is more show than substance, and that has openly declared that it does not want to give a dollar of federal funding to states with policies it disagrees with, regardless of what is required by the Constitution and the law. I urge the court to require FEMA to distribute homeland-security funding without this illegal new condition.”
On January 20, 2025, President Trump directed DHS to prevent so-called “sanctuary” jurisdictions from accessing federal funds. This action followed prior attempts by his administration to tie federal grants to state cooperation with immigration enforcement—a strategy previously blocked by courts which found laws like California’s SB 54 constitutional.
Recently, FEMA issued award notifications for its Homeland Security Grant Program—worth about $1 billion annually—and many states received less funding than expected based on previous allocation notices tied to risk assessments such as threat and vulnerability levels. California anticipated approximately $165 million but was awarded only $110 million—a 33% reduction—while Illinois saw a 69% cut and New York a 79% cut; other states experienced significant increases.
The coalition argues these changes are influenced by whether a state is labeled as a “sanctuary” jurisdiction or not, suggesting resources were shifted away from certain states toward others favored by current federal policy priorities.
Bonta and his counterparts swiftly secured a temporary restraining order blocking diversion of these funds under contested conditions. In their amended complaint filed today, they assert DHS’s actions violate administrative law principles and seek removal of what they call an unlawful population certification requirement so full emergency management funding can be restored.
Joining Attorney General Bonta in this legal action are attorneys general from Illinois, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New York, Vermont and Washington as well as Pennsylvania’s governor.
A copy of the amended complaint can be found here.
