AG Tong: Connecticut wins court order to protect billions in federal funding
Tong joined 20 other states in suing the Trump administration over its decision to shut down the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) bipartisan Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) program.
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Connecticut won a court order that will protect billions of dollars in federal emergency preparedness funding. The announcement came from Attorney General William Tong on Wednesday.
In July, Tong joined 20 other states in suing the Trump administration over its decision to shut down the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) bipartisan Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) program. It's designed to protect communities from natural disasters before they strike.
According to a press release from Tong, in February, Secretary Kristi Noem directed the Department of Homeland Security and its sub-agencies, including FEMA, to cease federal funding to jurisdictions that do not assist the federal government in the enforcement of federal immigration law. Connecticut was one of them.
In an interview with News12 on Wednesday, Tong said the state won the court order because what the administration did was illegal.
"For the Secretary of Homeland Security to say, we're not going to give you FEMA money unless you do what we tell you to do on immigration, and unless state and local police work for us, the federal government, in doing immigration enforcement, is totally illegal, totally unlawful, and frankly, makes Connecticut families totally unsafe and exposed to all these threats that FEMA is designed to help prevent and respond to," Tong said.
This is not the first time Tong has sued the Trump administration. This lawsuit is one of 32 that Tong has filed since President Donald Trump took office. Tong was also attorney general during Trump's first term and said he filed nearly 80 lawsuits back then.
"All of these lawsuits are actually stopping the president from doing any more damage. And does anybody think the president has not damaged our state and our country and their family? I mean, just look at the cost of groceries. Just look at how it impacts you and your everyday life," he said.
Tong added that this is a preliminary win, and it's possible that more proceedings could come in this case. If that does happen, Tong said he will never back down and will continue to fight for the people of Connecticut.
