Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown joins several other states today in suing President Trump's administration yet again.
This time, Brown and the attorneys general of 19 other states filed two lawsuits 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," according to a press release.
One lawsuit is filed against the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and DHS Secretary Kristi Noem.
The second lawsuit has been filed against the Department of Transportation (DOT) and its secretary, Sean Duffy.
“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," says Brown.
The lawsuits describe the move to withhold funding to states that don't assist ICE in enforcing federal immigration law as a "grant funding hostage scheme."
The states argue in the lawsuit against DOT that the Federal Government's attempts to withhold funding over a condition requiring states to "cooperate with Federal officials in the enforcement of ... Federal immigration law" is a violation of the right of states to "choose how to deploy enforcement resources in their states."
The case against FEMA states that states have cause to sue over how the immigration enforcement requirement violates the Administrative Procedure Act.
"The Trump administration's threat to unlawfully withhold billions in federal funding would be catastrophic to the safety of every Marylander," says Governor Wes Moore. "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."
In the suits, the states ask the court for relief by declaring the Immigration Enforcement Condition for DOT and the Civil Immigration Conditions for FEMA unconstitutional and asking for the Court to keep the government agencies from taking actions to enforce them.
These two suits bring the number of lawsuits Brown has brought against the Trump administration to four since the start of May.
