Press Release: 5/14/2025
AG Campbell Files Two Lawsuits Challenging Trump Administration's Threats to Withold Federal Funding in an Effort to Coerce States into Enforcing Cruel Immigration Policies
Attorneys General Fight to Protect Funds Used for Emergency Services and Infrastructure Maintenance
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
5/13/2025
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Kennedy Sims, Deputy Press Secretary
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Call Kennedy Sims, Deputy Press Secretary at (617) 727-2543
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Email Kennedy Sims, Deputy Press Secretary at Kennedy.Sims@mass.gov
BOSTON — Today, Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell joined 21 attorneys general in challenging the Trump Administration’s efforts to strong arm states into participating in cruel and unlawful immigration enforcement tactics by withholding billions of dollars in federal funding for emergency services and infrastructure in two lawsuits.
“Threatening to withhold federal funding appropriated by Congress as a way to bully states into aiding and abetting the Trump Administration’s fear-driven and inhumane immigration policies isn’t just unconstitutional -- it’s extortion,” said AG Campbell. “Congress appropriated this funding to support emergency preparedness and transportation infrastructure projects that would reduce accidents and fatalities and promote public safety, and only Congress has the authority to change that. While the Trump Administration may be willing to gamble with the lives of millions of hardworking Americans including Massachusetts residents—I am not.”
One of the two lawsuits filed by AG Campbell and the coalition is against the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, and the second is against the Department of Transportation (DOT) and DOT Secretary Sean Duffy. In an effort to force states and state agencies to comply with the federal government's cruel and unlawful immigration enforcement policies, each federal agency has threatened to rip away billions of dollars in federal funding from the states if they refuse to comply with this Administration’s insidious demands. As detailed in the filed complaints, the Trump Administration’s demands include: providing unfettered access to individual’s citizenship or immigration status, participating in joint immigration enforcement operations, complying with demands to detain people, and ceasing operation of programs that benefit our residents regardless of their immigration status.
As outlined by AG Campbell and the attorneys general, the funding in question was authorized by Congress alone, without conditions for projects that range from disaster relief and flood mitigation to railroad, bridge and airport construction. Congress appropriated funding from dozens of grant programs within FEMA and DOT to protect and support the public safety of hardworking Americans across the country, not for immigration enforcement.
In February 2025, Secretary Noem directed DHS and its sub-agencies, including FEMA, to withhold federal funding from jurisdictions that declined to assist in the enforcement of federal immigration laws. The following month, DHS amended the terms and conditions attached to its grants, requiring all recipients to vow to cooperate and comply with federal immigration enforcement efforts.
Shortly thereafter, Secretary Duffy of the DOT issued a letter to grant recipients announcing plans to impose similar conditions on DOT grants, requiring recipients to agree to assist with federal immigration enforcement in order to remain eligible for DOT funding—including grants for highway construction, public transit maintenance, and competitive programs supporting airport and railway improvements.
In recent weeks, applicants for federal transportation grants have begun to encounter similar immigration-related conditions in the terms and conditions governing programs administered by the Federal Railroad Administration, the Federal Highway Administration, and the Federal Transit Administration.
In their lawsuit against FEMA, the coalition of attorneys general state that the terms and conditions on funding are unconstitutional and beyond FEMA’s legal authority because Congress appropriated the billions of federal dollars to help states prepare for, protect against, respond to and recover from catastrophic disasters. The safety and well-being of every American could be at risk if states are forced to forfeit over two billion dollars in federal funding for emergency preparedness and response funds. Last year, Massachusetts alone received more than five million dollars in federal funding from FEMA, for a sum total of over 23 million dollars received over the last four years. AG Campbell and the coalition attorneys general argue that using federal funding to bully states into submission can and will cause irreparable harm to the delicate bond and carefully built trust between law enforcement and the very communities they vow to serve and protect.
In their lawsuit against the DOT, AG Campbell and the coalition argue that imposing an immigration-enforcement condition on all federal transportation funds, which Congress appropriated to support critical infrastructure projects, is beyond the agency’s legal authority. The coalition states rely upon DOT money to fund highway development and airport safety projects, to prevent injuries and fatalities from traffic accidents, and to protect against train collisions. Last year, Massachusetts received more than five million in grants funding from DOT with an estimated total sum of over one billion for fiscal years 2022 to 2026. AG Campbell and the attorneys general contend that withholding the federal funding will damage public infrastructure across the county and will undermine public trust and cooperation in criminal investigations.
Joining Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell in filing the lawsuits are attorneys general from California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Washington, Wisconsin and Vermont.