Attorneys general from California and 21 other states, plus the District of Columbia, have filed a court brief seeking to prevent the dismantling of the federal Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

The amicus brief, which was announced Thursday, was submitted to the U.S. District Court in Maryland in support of a motion by the Baltimore City Council and others for a preliminary injunction to prevent the Trump administration from dismantling the bureau.

The attorneys general argue the Trump administration is trying to defund and shut down the CFPB. In their amicus, or “friend of the court,” brief, attorneys general said such efforts would significantly reduce oversight of large banks and cause irreparable harm to consumers and states.

“Indeed these harms have already begun,” the attorneys general argued in the brief. “In the absence of a functioning CFPB, states have suddenly lost the CFPB’s significant expertise and resources that can be invaluable in ongoing matters that protect their residents. States’ access to the benefits provided by the CFPB has effectively ceased. Referrals of consumer complaints to the CFPB have been left in limbo.”

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Besides California and the District of Columbia, the amicus brief was filed by Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington and Wisconsin.

In his statement announcing the amicus brief, California Attorney General Rob Bonta accused the Trump administration of trying to destroy an agency that stops “predatory debt collectors” and prevents banks and payday lenders from exploiting American families.

In a news release, Bonta’s office said the administration issued a suspension of work at the CFPB, fired probationary employees and announced a decision against withdrawing funding provided by the Federal Reserve.

Bonta called the CFPB the “backbone of federal consumer financial protections.”

Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes warned against dismantling the bureau in a statement.

Without the bureau, it’ll be easier for banks to raise fees, deceive borrowers and evade oversight, Mayes said.

“The actions of the Trump-Musk administration put Arizonans at greater risk of fraud, abuse and financial exploitation,” she said, referring to Elon Musk, head of the Department of Government Efficiency.

The CFPB has helped homeowners facing foreclosure stay in their homes and returned more than $20 billion to consumers, Mayes’ office said in a news release.

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The bureau was started in 2010 during the Obama administration.

The attorneys general noted in their brief that the CFPB was formed in response to the Great Recession, which ran from December 2007 to June 2009.

“While the underlying causes were complex, there is little debate that abusive subprime mortgage lending and the associated collapse of the real-estate market played a central role,” the attorneys general wrote.

They said Congress determined the Great Recession resulted from the failure to address consumer protection.

The AGs said Congress responded by creating the Consumer Financial Protection Act, which is part of the Dodd-Frank Act.

The Consumer Financial Protection Act consolidated consumer protection activities under the CFPB and gave the agency power to prevent practices that take advantage of consumers, the attorneys general said.

Shortly after taking office, President Donald Trump fired the bureau’s director, Rohit Chopra, and appointed Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent as the CFPB's temporary head.

Republican lawmakers have introduced legislation to completely defund the CFPB. Many lawmakers and businesses have accused the bureau of exceeding its authority.

Credit unions sued the CFPB after Chopra in January finalized a rule that removed an estimated $49 billion in medical bills from about 15 million Americans’ credit reports. The rule prevented lenders from using medical information in their decisions.