San Diego joins dozens of agencies suing Trump over placing conditions on federal funding

City of San Diego projects could be threatened if representatives lose access to more than million in promised federal funds File photo courtesy of city of San Diego San Diego has joined dozens of other jurisdictions nationwide in suing a trio of federal agencies for allegedly withholding billions in federal grant funding The lawsuit alleges that more than billion in awarded funding is at stake as the ruling body calls for federal grant recipients to agree to promote the political agenda President Donald Trump campaigned on during his run for office and has continued espousing since Among the Trump policies cited in the suit are the administration s opposition to diversity and inclusion aggressive immigration enforcement exclusion of transgender people and stance on abortion access The lawsuit filed in the Western District of Washington in May alleges such conditions are unconstitutional and bear little or no connection to the purposes of the grant programs Congress established San Diego was awarded around million in U S Department of Transportation grants and million in U S Housing and Urban Maturation grants which the city announced will aid affordable housing construction street bridge and infrastructure repair homelessness services and more San Diego City Attorney Heather Ferbert called the administration s stipulations on the awards politically motivated and unlawful funding conditions We will fight to ensure San Diego continues to receive the tools it has earned and has been promised without overreach from the federal cabinet Ferbert stated in a announcement King County in Washington led a coalition of other localities in filing the lawsuit challenging the funding conditions on federal grants under DOT and HUD s Continuum of Care Operation The plaintiffs successfully obtained a court order temporarily enjoining DOT and HUD from pausing withholding or terminating the grants King County is expanding its litigation to add new localities like San Diego as well as further challenge federal grant conditions for all DOT HUD and Strength and Human Services grants according to the City Attorney s Office The amended complaint filed Thursday includes nearly municipal agencies among them cities counties and transit housing and port functionaries California is well represented with the cities of Los Angeles Santa Monica Oakland and San Francisco among the plaintiffs Boston Chicago Denver New York Tucson and Milwaukee are part of the suit as well San Diego is the only local residents agency that has joined the litigants City News Function contributed to this overview