A coalition of 20 states filed suit in the U.S. District Court in Boston on Wednesday, accusing the Trump administration of unlawfully terminating the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities program. The complaint, led by Washington Attorney General Nick Brown, also names Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and acting FEMA Administrator David Richardson, saying neither had the authority to end the multibillion-dollar grant initiative in April. The plaintiffs argue that shuttering BRIC violates Congress’s constitutional control over spending and breaches the Administrative Procedure Act. Legislation passed in 2021 requires FEMA to provide at least $200 million a year in pre-disaster mitigation grants through 2026. FEMA’s April statement, later removed from its website, called the program “wasteful,” but the lawsuit contends the agency’s own leadership was not properly confirmed and therefore lacked power to scrap it. States say the abrupt halt threatens hundreds of projects intended to harden infrastructure against floods, wildfires and other natural hazards. New York officials cite more than $351 million in jeopardized city flood-control work, while Washington lists $182 million spread over 27 efforts, including levees in Hoquiam and backup power for rural hospitals. Nationally, FEMA had allocated about $4.5 billion to nearly 2,000 BRIC projects; the states are seeking a preliminary injunction to restore access to those funds as climate-driven extreme weather intensifies.