WA sues Trump administration over canceled grant to shelter migrants
July 25, 2025 at 1:20 pm
Asylum-seekers hang out in a room at Riverton Park United Methodist Church in Tukwila on April 1, 2024. (Ellen M. Banner / The Seattle Times)
By
Alexandra Yoon-Hendricks
Seattle Times staff reporter
Washington is suing the U.S. Department of Homeland Security over the cancellation of congressionally approved funds to help shelter migrants with pending asylum or immigration cases.
The lawsuit, filed Friday in federal court, seeks to reinstate more than $4 million in funds awarded to the state to cover emergency food and shelter to noncitizen migrants after they are released from DHS custody.
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The state is asking the court to declare the termination of the grant unlawful, and to order the federal agency to restore the state’s funding.
Since 2019, under a law signed by President Donald Trump during his first term, Congress has funneled millions to states, cities and local nonprofits looking to support undocumented immigrants through the Federal Emergency Management Agency Shelter and Services Program.
Washington applied for the FEMA funding in June 2024 primarily to provide housing and food for the hundreds of asylum-seekers and other migrants that have been arriving in Tukwila since late 2022. The funding would have supported shelter and services for about 525 noncitizen migrants every day.
That application identified the city of Tukwila, Public Health – Seattle & King County and the nonprofit Mary’s Place Seattle as funding recipients, with additional organizations that could provide shelter and other essential services to be identified at a later date. FEMA awarded Washington more than $4 million in funds in September 2024.
But in April, before Washington could request payment under the award, the agency terminated the grant.
The termination notice stated the funding was terminated because “funding . . . non-federal entities to provide shelter, food, transportation, acute medical care, and personal hygiene supplies for individuals released from DHS short-term holding facilities … is not consistent with DHS’s current priorities,” according to the complaint.
“Once again, the Trump administration is breaking the law and ignoring Congress,” Washington state Attorney General Nick Brown said in a statement.
“Congress created a program to provide funding for shelter for migrants. But now the president has illegally yanked the funds, ignoring the separation of powers, simply because he doesn’t like the program.”
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Washington agencies had already provided services that were supposed to be reimbursable under the reward when the grant was terminated, according to the complaint.
Without the federal funding, “there is likely to be an overall drop in the level of services provided to noncitizen migrants in Washington,” the complaint stated, with neither state nor local governments likely to fill the funding gap.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
Alexandra Yoon-Hendricks: 206-464-2246 or ayoonhendricks@seattletimes.com. Staff reporter Alexandra Yoon-Hendricks covers race and equity for The Seattle Times.
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