Cities sue Trump administration for tying funds to DEI

By Elyse Apel
The Center Square

Denver has joined a coalition suing the Trump administration over funds it says have been “illegally” withheld.

Joined on the lawsuit by other Democrat-run cities like Chicago, Boston and New York, Denver Mayor Mike Johnston and the city and county of Denver are seeking immediate relief from the courts.

“President Trump is threatening to strip cities of critical funding for everything from fighting fires to protecting concertgoers at Red Rocks from serious threats,” Johnston said.

The lawsuit was filed against the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

The cities argue those departments have put “unlawful conditions” on grant funding for making it contingent upon compliance with the administration’s stance on diversity, equity and inclusion policies.

As part of a broader stance from the Trump administration against DEI, those department’s conditions now require that recipients of funding agree not to “operate any programs that advance or promote DEI, DEIA, or discriminatory equity ideology.”

The cities claim this is unlawful and unprecedented.

“The result is that local governments in line to receive federal funding from DHS for emergency-management activities now face a choice that is not only untenable and unlawful, but also urgent: either accept conditions that are unconstitutional and contrary to law, or lose millions of dollars in federal grant funding used to keep their residents safe and ensure continuity of government,” the lawsuit stated.

The cities in question stand to lose hundreds of millions of dollars if they refuse to comply with the new grant requirements. This is money they say is necessary to support critical services.

“These grants have nothing to do with diversity, equity and inclusion and everything to do with this administration’s goal of inserting politics where none belong,” Johnston said. “We will continue fighting for the services Denverites are entitled to receive as taxpayers.”

This lawsuit follows a similar one that Denver filed in June against the Trump administration for freezing federal funds related to the Securing the Cities counterterrorism program.

As previously reported on by The Center Square, those funds were frozen because the city refused to comply with immigration enforcement.

The city secured a legal win in that lawsuit and promised funds were restored. According to the city, future reimbursements could still be in jeopardy though.

“DHS later made clear that future reimbursements would be made contingent on signing on to the Trump Administration’s directives involving DEI,” the city said in a statement. “Denver has declined to do so.”