US Attorneys General Defend Lifesaving USAID Programs, Including Those For the Caribbean

NEW YORK, New York – New York Attorney General Letitia James on Friday joined a coalition of 23 attorneys general in the United States in challenging what they described as the Trump administration’s “illegal attempts” to halt billions of dollars of funding for assistance programs for other countries at the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the State Department.

Attorney General Letitia James.In an amicus brief filed with the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia in Global Health Council v. Trump, James and the coalition argue that the president does not have the power to unilaterally refuse to spend funds that were already appropriated by the US Congress.

“Allowing the president to override Congress’s power to control spending would be devastating for states like New York, which have already been cut off from hundreds of millions of dollars that support critical research, public health, and agricultural programs due to the administration’s cuts to foreign aid,” James told the Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC).

“Every year, our foreign aid programs bring together America’s small businesses, farmers, and top researchers to help save hundreds of thousands of lives across the globe. USAID has made our country and the world safer and more prosperous for decades, and this administration does not have the power to gut it on a whim.”

James said she was “proud” to join her fellow attorneys general in defending USAID and “all those who work every day to support its lifesaving mission.”

The New York Attorney General noted that, for over 60 years, USAID has administered essential foreign aid across the globe, including the Caribbean, running programs to promote public health, disaster recovery, economic development, education and democracy in over 100 countries.

In February 2025, James said the Trump administration began suspending thousands of USAID grants, effectively halting nearly all of its programs and “jeopardizing hundreds of thousands of lives in some of the most vulnerable countries on the planet.”

James said the billions of dollars suspended from USAID included funding for food aid for children struggling with malnutrition, shelter for thousands of families displaced by war, and public health programs that protect people from AIDS and malaria.

As Attorney General James and the coalition assert in the brief, USAID provides critical funding for research programs in states nationwide.

The brief says farmers, small businesses, and nonprofits, including those in New York, receive USAID funds to help support their aid programs.

In addition, the brief says universities in New York receive USAID funds to conduct critical research on public health, vaccines, and agriculture to support humanitarian and foreign assistance across the globe.

As Attorney General James and the coalition note, the administration’s cuts have halted more than $550 million in research grants and contracts in states.

The coalition argues that the US Constitution “clearly grants Congress, not the president, the power to control federal spending.

“The administration does not have the authority to halt funding that Congress appropriated simply because the president disagrees with it,” it says.

In addition, the coalition argues that allowing the executive branch to withhold funding on a whim would cause chaos for states, which receive over US$1 trillion in federal funds every year for Medicaid, infrastructure repairs, education, law enforcement, and other essential services.

The coalition urges the court to uphold the US District Court for the District of Columbia’s preliminary injunction order halting Trump’s withholding of USAID funds.

Joining New York Attorney General James in filing the amicus brief are the attorneys general of Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, Wisconsin, and the District of Columbia.