North Carolina Attorney General Jeff Jackson joined a coalition of attorneys general from 22 states and the District of Columbia, and the governors of Kentucky and Pennsylvania, in a lawsuit filed in Rhode Island on July 23 against the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for threatening to withhold more than $1 billion in Homeland Security and disaster-response grants to states unless they adopt the Trump administration policies on elections and immigration.
Conducting post-election audits, requiring states to verify voter citizenship through the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) database, transition voting systems to equipment that will read hand-marked paper ballots, and cooperating with federal immigration enforcement, are the requirements listed in the suit.
The attorney general said since FEMA doesn’t run elections, they have no authority over them and the demands would interfere with the authority of the North Carolina State Board of Elections (NCSBE) and county boards. He also said it would force at least 13 North Carolina counties, most of them rural, to spend millions of dollars replacing voting equipment the state board already certified after mandatory testing by nationally accredited laboratories.
Non-compliance would lead to the loss of at least 20% of Homeland Security Grant Program (HSGP) funding, and possibly entire award funding going forward. Plaintiff states have been allocated over $740 million in Fiscal Year 2026 HSGP funds, meaning DHS and FEMA will hold at least $148 million “hostage,” according to the lawsuit.
Jackson said North Carolina received over $17 million in HSGP and Emergency Management Performance Grant funds last year.
Funding has been used to purchase equipment for things like bomb squads, conduct active shooter exercises, combat cyberattacks, respond to hurricanes, and other natural disasters, including flooding, wildfires and conducting search-and-rescue efforts, which, he notes, North Carolina has experienced several of in the past two years.
Attorneys general argue that the set of immigration conditions in DHS’ Fiscal Year 2026 Standard Terms and Conditions are identical to those already vacated and enjoined last year in FEMA, and that DHS and FEMA assert that they are still considering whether to apply these conditions to the HSGP and Emergency Management Performance Grant (“EMPG”) programs, among others.
They also state that DHS and FEMA can pull funds from all 2026 FEMA funding at any time based on new terms that don’t align with agency priorities or no longer “advances the national interest,” which they say impose “new, unascertainable, and vague requirements,” and leave states with the uncertainty to plan major public safety operations around federal funding that can be terminated at any time.
Jackson said in a press release that the attorneys general argue that FEMA and DHS are violating the Administrative Procedure Act and the Spending Clause of the US Constitution.
“FEMA is threatening our counterterrorism funding again,” he said in the release. “The last time they tried this, we took them to court and won. Now they’re trying again, and I expect we’ll beat them – again. Hopefully they get the message: Don’t threaten our first responders unless you’re ready for a fight.”
The attorney general previously sued FEMA and DHS, and won, for withholding $17 million in funding for North Carolina for emergency management, disaster relief, and homeland security operations.
In addition to Jackson, attorneys general of Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Mexico, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, Washington and Wisconsin, as well as the governors of Kentucky and Pennsylvania.
FEMA has come under fire by local, state and federal officials in the past year, including US Sen. Ted Budd, R-NC, who testified at a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing on July 21 about how the need for additional disaster relief funding would benefit western North Carolina’s recovery from Hurricane Helene almost two years ago.
Budd also noted in a June press release that FEMA approval times on public assistance projects have greatly improved under new Secretary of Homeland Security Markwayne Mullin as opposed to former secretary Kristi Noem.
“Secretary of Homeland Security Markwayne Mullin has empowered FEMA to more rapidly reimburse state & local governments for public assistance projects,” he said. “I’m pleased projects are now being approved on a regular basis — something I called for more than a year ago.”
Budd stated last week that he is holding firm on a position he had in June about a supplemental funding request from President Donald Trump, which would help pay for the Iran war among other things, because additional Helene recovery funding was not included.
The Office of Management and Budget stated that the $87.6 billion request to Congress is needed to fill urgent needs such as Operation Epic Fury, the Ebola outbreak in Central Africa, and American farmers.
“I want to be clear that I fully support President Trump’s request to replenish our munitions stockpile and strengthen our military,” Budd said. “I am also appreciative of his efforts to provide economic assistance to farmers impacted by disasters and unfair trade practices. However, to address the long-term recovery needs of western North Carolina, more federal funds are needed.”
He closed with stressing the need to remember western North Carolinians who are still rebuilding their lives nearly two years after the costliest natural disaster on record in the state.
“Every time I’m in western North Carolina, people ask me to make sure that they’re not forgotten,” Budd stated. “This is Congress’s chance to remind them that we’re serious about helping them get back on their feet.”
