A federal judge is weighing whether to force the Trump administration to defrost millions of dollars in previously assigned FEMA funds.
A coalition of 22 general Democratic prosecutors says that the administration is illegally retaining funds despite a court order that requires payment.
General prosecutors have asked the judge to force the Trump administration to defrost payments, claiming that at least 16 states have not been able to access the money of 140 FEMA subsidies.
According to its motion presented in the Federal Court on Friday, programs whose funds have been frozen include forest fire prevention, emergency management, terrorism prevention, cybersecurity and flood mitigation.
“The security of our residents is not a game and should not be subject to partisan policy and the remuneration of the president and his appointed,” said New Jersey Attorney Matt Pathin, one of the 22 general prosecutors who presented the motion.
A Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) officer is seen as the lime search and rescue team looks through debris after a massive forest fire, on January 13, 2025, in the neighborhood of Altadena de los Angeles.
Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu through Getty Images
In January, a federal judge in Rhode Island prohibited the Trump administration unilaterally to freeze federal financing. While the Trump administration does not freeze some of the funds, general prosecutors claim that the federal government continues to retain millions in FEMA funds.
Its judicial presentation included multiple examples of the FEMA payment system that shows that subsidies continue to freeze.
The dispute over the FEMA funds occurs when the Trump administration is considering remodeling or abolishing FEMA. In January, Trump signed an executive order to begin the process to reform or consider “get rid of” the agency responsible for disaster.
