Denver Takes Trump Administration to Court Over Alleged Funding Restrictions

By: Heather Willard | KDVR FOX31

DENVER (KDVR) — The city and county of Denver has joined Chicago, New York, Boston and more in a lawsuit against the Trump administration for allegedly imposing illegal conditions for grant funding.

Denver said that the new lawsuit aims to prevent the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Emergency Management Agency from requiring compliance with the current administration’s stance on diversity, equity and inclusion to get grant funding.

“President Trump is threatening to strip cities of critical funding for everything from fighting fires to protecting concertgoers at Red Rocks from serious threats,” said Denver Mayor Mike Johnston in a release. “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, and we will continue fighting for the services Denverites are entitled to receive as taxpayers.”

One of President Donald Trump’s leading initiatives after taking office was against DEI, signing a series of executive orders within his first week in office to prevent the practice in federal programs.

Denver sued the Trump administration in June after funding for the Securing Our Cities program ceased. The program is an attempt to reduce the risk of terrorist attacks in high-risk urban areas.

Denver said on Tuesday that after suing in June, the promised funding in the Securing Our Cities program was restored.

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

In the lawsuit, the cities argue that the federal government’s conditions for the funds are “inscrutably vague, subjective, and overbroad, and the Executive’s imposition of the conditions on Plaintiffs’ grants upsets the separation of powers, exceeds the federal goverment’s authority to place conditions on federal funding, and flouts bedrock limits on how federal agencies must consider, reach, and implement decisions.”

By: Taylor Bruck | KDVR FOX31