Michigan and several other states demonstrated that the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s modifications to two grant programs were unlawful because they were “abrupt” policy changes that harmed local emergency management, a federal district court said.
FEMA violated the Administrative Procedure Act by requiring states to certify their population minus recently deported people in order to get funding under the Emergency Management Performance Grant, Magistrate Judge Amy E. Potter of the US District Court for the District of Oregon said Tuesday.
Shortening grant periods from three years to one under the Homeland Security Grant Program also violated the law, she said.
Potter blocked FEMA from implementing the population certification requirement for 2025 EMPG grant awards, as well as from rejecting EPMG funding requests for expenses incurred between 2024 and 2027. She also blocked the agency from rejecting HSGP funding requests for expenses incurred between 2025 and 2028.
The decision comes a day after a Rhode Island federal district court held that FEMA violated the APA by diverting counterterrorism and security grants from what it called “sanctuary states"—those that aren’t complying with the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement policies.
The federal government unlawfully decided to withhold funding based on what appeared to be “political whims,” that court said in that case.
FEMA argued that it wants more oversight as the states use the emergency preparedness grants.
But the agency already has that power because it must approve projects that rely on the funds, Potter said. “That is not reasoned decision-making,” she said.
There’s also no evidence the federal government acknowledged that the states relied on prior policies, making the changes arbitrary and capricious, the court said.
The case is State of Mich. v. Noem, 2025 BL 460876, D. Or., No. 6:25-cv-02053, 12/23/25.
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