Minn. city joins lawsuit against Trump administration over DHS, FEMA grant conditions

John Autey /TNS

By Frederick Melo
Pioneer Press

ST. PAUL, Minn. — The city of St. Paul has joined Minneapolis, Ramsey County, Chicago, Denver, Boston and four other jurisdictions in a lawsuit against the Trump administration for allegedly placing “unlawful and unrelated conditions” on more than $100 million in public safety and disaster grants.

Led by the city of Chicago and filed in federal court in Illinois, Chicago vs. Noem centers on grants administered by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Emergency Management Agency for fire department staffing, port and transit security, flood prevention and counter-terrorism measures.

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St. Paul alone is at risk of losing $4 million in pending or awarded funds, including funding covering about half the staffing in the city’s Emergency Management department.

“St. Paul families and businesses pay billions in federal taxes,” said St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter, in a written statement. “We deserve support in a crisis, not a government that weaponizes government aid.”

Administration demands cities abandon DEI initiatives

To qualify for grant dollars, the Trump administration has demanded that local governments abandon diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives and comply with all executive orders related to grant funding.

The lawsuit, according to a written statement from the city, asks the court to stop DHS and FEMA from “using these life-saving funds as leverage for unrelated political agendas.” The plaintiffs maintain that the conditions are unconstitutional and exceed the executive’s authority, falling outside of parameters authorized by Congress.

“Congress has made federal funding of state and local governments’ emergency-management operations an essential linchpin in the systems that secure the nation,” reads the lawsuit. “Without that funding, people across the country will face greater risk of suffering and death from disasters.”

Plaintiffs in the lawsuit include St. Paul, Minneapolis, Ramsey County, Baltimore, Boston, the city and county of Denver, Colo., New York City and New Haven, Conn.

Lawsuit: ‘Force multiplier’ at risk

The lawsuit notes that through mutual aid agreements, the recipient agencies sometimes support surrounding cities and jurisdictions, a “force multiplier” at risk of being eroded.

St. Paul expends approximately $2.5 million annually in funds from DHS to provide firefighting equipment and training, emergency response, paramedic training and terrorism prevention. The city’s Emergency Management department currently has a cumulative award of $2.7 million in active grants from DHS, with another $804,000 pending finalization of grant agreements.

The city has applied for another $3.09 million, and anticipates applying for $2.3 million within the next year, according to a written statement. Federal grant dollars cover five of the nine city employees in the Emergency Management department, as well as their equipment and training for emergency response, according to a spokesperson for the mayor’s office.

“These resources are life-saving investments,” said Rick Schute, the city’s director of Emergency Management, in the written statement. “We cannot afford to compromise our ability to respond swiftly and effectively to emergencies.”

Disaster relief funds

The city received about $1.03 million in FEMA-level disaster relief funds for the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021, and $1.25 million in flood relief for Hidden Falls in 2019 , according to Grants Director Lindsay Bacher. Downtown river flooding in 2023 and 2024 did not meet the threshold for FEMA relief.

The legal fight over FEMA and DHS grants is the latest in a series of court battles involving the Trump administration and individual cities, counties or states over access to longstanding federal funding.

In September, a federal judge based in Rhode Island blocked the Trump administration from making disaster aid to states contingent on their cooperating with federal immigration enforcement.

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