Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes has joined a coalition of 26 states and jurisdictions in filing a federal lawsuit challenging new conditions the Trump administration has placed on billions of dollars in federal homeland security and counterterrorism funding.
The lawsuit, filed Friday against the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), argues the administration is unlawfully tying federal emergency preparedness funding to state compliance with federal immigration enforcement and changes to state election laws.
According to the lawsuit, the disputed conditions apply to billions of dollars in federal grants, including more than $1 billion through the Homeland Security Grant Program, which states use to prepare for and respond to terrorism, cyberattacks and natural disasters.
"Congress appropriated these funds to help protect our communities from terrorism, cyberattacks, and natural disasters—not to give the federal government leverage to force states to adopt unrelated political agendas," Mayes said.
"The Trump administration cannot hold Arizona's public safety funding hostage to coerce states into changing their election laws or diverting law enforcement resources away from the work that keeps our communities safe," she added.
The lawsuit challenges three main funding conditions.
First, the coalition argues DHS and FEMA are again attempting to require states to assist with federal immigration enforcement as a condition of receiving grant money. Mayes said similar requirements imposed in 2025 were blocked by a federal judge after previous legal challenges.
Second, the lawsuit objects to a requirement that states comply with several election-related directives or risk losing 20% of their Homeland Security Grant Program funding. According to the complaint, those requirements include:
- Transitioning to paper-ballot voting systems.
- Conducting mandatory 5% manual audits of voting systems.
- Reconciling voters and ballots using a DHS methodology that has not been publicly disclosed.
- Using the federal SAVE system to verify the citizenship of every election worker and every registered voter.
The coalition argues those requirements would force states to overhaul election systems and invest significant resources to secure funding Congress intended for public safety and counterterrorism efforts.
Finally, the lawsuit challenges a provision that would allow FEMA to terminate grants "at any time and for any reason," arguing the condition creates uncertainty for emergency preparedness programs that rely on stable federal funding.
The attorneys general contend the grant conditions violate both the Administrative Procedure Act and the Spending Clause of the U.S. Constitution.
Mayes noted Arizona previously joined two successful lawsuits in 2025 challenging similar DHS funding conditions.
The coalition includes the attorneys general of Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Mexico, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin and the District of Columbia, along with the governors of Kentucky and Pennsylvania.
The Trump administration had not publicly responded to the lawsuit as of Friday.
