FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Media Contacts:
Email: [email protected]
Phone: 410-576-7009
Attorneys General Fight to Protect Funds Used for Emergency Services and
Infrastructure Projects
BALTIMORE, MD – Attorney General Anthony G. Brown, working in concert
with 19 other attorneys general, today filed two separate lawsuits against the Trump
administration for attempting to illegally coerce their states into sweeping immigration
enforcement by threatening to withhold billions in federal funding for emergency services and
transportation infrastructure.
Attorney General Brown and the coalition filed one lawsuit against the Federal Emergency
Management Agency (FEMA), the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and DHS
Secretary Kristi Noem. Maryland co-led a second lawsuit against the Department of
Transportation (DOT) and DOT Secretary Sean Duffy. Each agency has imposed sweeping new
conditions that would require the states and state agencies to commit their personnel and
resources to federal immigration enforcement efforts—regardless of the states’ own laws and
policies governing state agencies—or lose out on billions of federal dollars that states use to
protect public safety and transportation infrastructure.
“Our message on these lawsuits is straightforward: Maryland law, as passed by the General
Assembly in 2021, clearly recognizes the federal government's primary role in immigration
enforcement while setting limits on state and local cooperation. The Attorney General joined this
action because the federal government is attempting to force Maryland to act against its own
laws,” said Attorney General Brown.
“The Trump administration’s threat to unlawfully withhold billions in federal funding would be
catastrophic to the safety of every Marylander. By forcing states to divert limited resources from
protecting local communities, we stand to compromise the significant progress we have made on
public safety over the last several years—including some of the most impressive crime drops in
the entire country,” said Governor Wes Moore. “The bottom line is this: threatening our
security and transportation funding creates unnecessary risks, makes us less able to respond to
disasters, and makes us less safe. I commend Attorney General Brown and the multi-state
coalition of attorneys general in filing these lawsuits. Maryland will continue to defend the
people of our state against any threat and will uphold the Constitution, as is our solemn
obligation.”
Attorney General Brown and the attorneys general explain that Congress has established dozens
of federal funding programs administered by FEMA and the DOT. The money Congress
appropriated to those programs funds projects that range from disaster relief and flood mitigation
to railroad, bridge, and airport construction.
In February, Secretary Noem directed DHS and its sub-agencies, including FEMA, to cease
federal funding to jurisdictions that do not assist the federal government in the enforcement of
federal immigration law. In March, DHS amended the terms and conditions it places on federal
funds to require recipients to certify that they will assist in enforcing federal immigration law.
Soon after Noem’s decision, DOT Secretary Duffy issued a letter to grant recipients informing
them of his intent to require all state and local governments to assist in federal immigration
enforcement as a condition of obtaining DOT funds. Those funds include grants for highway
construction, public transportation maintenance, and competitive funds for airport and railway
improvement.
In recent weeks, state grant applicants have seen similar immigration-enforcement language
added to the terms and conditions governing grants administered by the Federal Railroad
Administration, the Federal Highway Administration, and the Federal Transit Administration.
In their lawsuit against FEMA, Attorney General Brown and the coalition emphasize that
immigration enforcement is the federal government’s responsibility, not the states’. The coalition
further explains the conditions are unlawful because Congress appropriated the billions of federal
dollars at issue to help states prepare for, protect against, respond to and recover from
catastrophic disasters. The safety and wellbeing of Americans could be at risk if states are forced
to forfeit hundreds of millions of dollars in federal emergency preparedness and response funds.
Last year, Maryland alone received more than $42 million in federal funding from FEMA.
Attorney General Brown and the attorneys general note that Maryland and other states have
enacted legislation limiting cooperation with federal immigration enforcement, including two
laws passed by Maryland's General Assembly in 2021.
In their lawsuit against the DOT, Attorney General Brown and the coalition point out that
imposing an immigration-enforcement condition on all federal transportation funds, which
Congress appropriated to support critical infrastructure projects, is similarly beyond the agency’s
legal authority and improperly shifts federal responsibility onto states. 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. Annually, Maryland
receives more than $1 billion in federal assistance for all modes of its transportation
infrastructure, covering highways, airports, railroads, and metropolitan transportation.
In filing the lawsuits, Attorney General Brown joins the attorneys general of California,
Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaiʻi, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan,
Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Washington,
Wisconsin, and Vermont.
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