The City and County of Denver today joined the City of Chicago and Pima County, Arizona in filing a lawsuit(PDF, 740KB) against the Trump Administration for its unlawful and unconstitutional move to revoke federal funding awarded to local jurisdictions.
“While Donald Trump has time and again tried to divide the country instead of finding bipartisan solutions on immigration, the people of Denver stood up and stood together to help people in need,” said Denver Mayor Mike Johnston. “The Shelter and Services Program was intended for the sole purpose of reimbursing cities who did exactly that while following all federal, state, and local laws. Now, the Trump administration is illegally trying to punish cities who did the work the federal government couldn’t. I am incredibly proud of how our city responded to this crisis and will continue to fight for the funding we were awarded but have not received.”
Since the first Trump Administration, Congress has appropriated funds to reimburse communities and states for costs incurred supporting migrants who were processed and released by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) into the United States per federal immigration policy. In 2022, Congress continued this program with bipartisan support through the Shelter and Services Program (SSP), administered through FEMA, and intended for the sole purpose of reimbursing cities for the services necessitated by the federal government’s immigration policies.
The need for the SSP program was and is clear. In 2022, Texas Governor Greg Abbott began busing migrants to cities across the country, including many of the more than 43,000 people who arrived in Denver with nothing but the clothes on their backs and no opportunity to work. Denver responded to this crisis – that we neither created nor asked for – to prevent thousands of families from living on our streets in the cold, maintain public safety, and ensure the city continued delivery of core city services.
FEMA awarded grants to reimburse those costs incurred for providing services, as required by the congressional appropriation. Once President Trump took office, his administration took action to zero out all congressionally approved SSP grant balances without informing grantees.
Denver, Chicago, and Pima County assert that the federal government’s actions are unconstitutional, as these actions attempt to override Congress’ constitutional authority to appropriate funds. Additionally, the jurisdictions assert that the federal government violated the Administrative Procedure Act by failing to provide a reasoned basis for their actions.