Attorney General Ellison wins lawsuit to protect critical Homeland Security funding from politically motivated cuts 

Minnesota would have lost $6.5 million in terrorism preparedness and response funding had AG Ellison not filed his lawsuit

December 22, 2025 (SAINT PAUL) — Late today, Attorney General Ellison won his lawsuit to stop the Trump administration from unlawfully reallocating federal homeland security funding away from states based on their compliance with the administration’s political agenda. The U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island granted a motion for summary judgment brought by Attorney General Ellison and a coalition of 11 other attorneys general and the governor of Pennsylvania. A copy of the order granting summary judgment has been attached to this press release.

"Playing politics with money meant to prepare for and respond to acts of terrorism should be beneath any American president, even Donald Trump,” said Attorney General Ellison. “It is disgraceful that this president tried to cut potentially lifesaving resources from Minnesota because our state will not redirect law enforcement away from core public safety services to instead enforce federal immigration law. I will continue fighting to stop Donald Trump from withholding our own tax dollars from the people of Minnesota.”

On Sept. 27, without any notice or explanation, and four days before the end of the federal fiscal year, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) significantly cut funding to certain states that are unwilling to divert law enforcement resources away from core public safety services to assist in enforcing federal immigration law, while reallocating those funds to other states.

FEMA issued award notifications for its single largest grant program, the Homeland Security Grant Program (HSGP), which allocates approximately $1 billion in funds annually for state and municipal efforts to prevent, prepare for and respond to acts of terrorism. FEMA granted only $250 million to the 12 states that joined Ellison in the lawsuit. This was a $242 million, or 49%, reduction from the total amount that FEMA had previously stated it would provide to these states. Some states saw even sharper cuts. If the Trump Administration’s illegal cuts had been allowed to stand, Minnesota would have lost more than $6.5 million, or 44% of the dollars the state was slated to receive. DHS then attempted to redistribute the funds that it had cut to other states.

In her opinion, U.S. District Court Judge Mary McElroy found that states’ policies pertaining to federal immigration enforcement were a factor in DHS’ decision to reallocate the funding.

“Neither a law degree nor a degree in mathematics is required to deduce that no plausible, rational formula could produce this result,” McElroy wrote of the reductions in funding. “Nor could any reasonable, data-driven approach have resulted in the obviously manual increases in awards to favored jurisdictions.”

The court ordered DHS to amend the HSGP awards issued to the plaintiff states to reflect the funding levels that DHS had previously stated it would allocate, before the last-minute changes.

The court further held that other significant changes to emergency-preparedness programs, also made at the last minute at the end of the federal fiscal year, were unlawful and set them aside. DHS had cut the length of the grant awards from three years to one year. DHS had also required states, in order to receive emergency management funding, to certify their own populations as of September 30, 2025, while excluding individuals who had been “removed from the State pursuant to the immigration laws of the United States.” The court held that these actions were also arbitrary and capricious.

Joining them and Attorney General Ellison in filing the lawsuit are the attorneys general of California, Illinois, New Jersey, and Rhode Island, who led the coalition, and the attorneys general of Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Massachusetts, New York, Vermont and Washington, along with the governor of Pennsylvania.