{"id":319103,"date":"2025-10-20T17:34:10","date_gmt":"2025-10-20T17:34:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/319103\/"},"modified":"2025-10-20T17:34:10","modified_gmt":"2025-10-20T17:34:10","slug":"mayor-brandon-johnson-sues-trump-over-threat-to-cut-emergency-funding","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/319103\/","title":{"rendered":"Mayor Brandon Johnson sues Trump over threat to cut emergency funding"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mayor Brandon Johnson\u2019s administration filed another lawsuit<\/a> Monday against President Donald Trump\u2019s administration, this time in a bid to protect threatened emergency preparedness funding.<\/p>\n

The city\u2019s federal suit, filed Monday, alleges the Department of Homeland Security has tied long-standing funding that pays for cybersecurity tools, hazmat suits, first-responder salaries and more to \u201cunlawful conditions\u201d outlawing the city\u2019s \u201cdiversity, equity and inclusion\u201d efforts.<\/p>\n

Those conditions would require the city to certify that it does not operate \u201cprograms that advance or promote DEI, DEIA, or discriminatory equity ideology,\u201d according to grant guidelines implemented by DHS in April.<\/p>\n

The amount at stake is relatively small, as Chicago could lose up to $10 million next year, according to Johnson spokesperson Cassio Mendoza. But the city has pledged to draw a line against Trump attempts to target such equity standards, and leading the fight helps Johnson burnish his credentials as a bulwark against the federal government\u2019s moves to cut funding to Democratic-led institutions.<\/p>\n

Seven other cities and one county also joined the lawsuit, including New York, Boston, Denver and Baltimore. For Chicago, the lead plaintiff, the court action marks another clash<\/a> between Trump and Johnson as the president\u2019s efforts to ramp up deportations in the city continue.<\/p>\n

The 70-page complaint accuses Trump of trying \u201cto use this critical federal funding as a cudgel threatening to hamstring local governments\u2019 emergency-management function unless they acquiesce to unrelated [Trump] domestic policy goals.\u201d<\/p>\n

Johnson said \u201cChicago will not stand by\u201d while Trump \u201cweaponizes emergency funding to attack our values,\u201d in a news release announcing the lawsuit.<\/p>\n

\u201cChicago will always uphold the importance of our diversity. Ensuring that all Chicagoans have an opportunity to succeed is not discrimination,\u201d he wrote. \u201cIt\u2019s just basic fairness.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Johnson administration said the federal government has shared such emergency response and disaster preparedness grants through DHS and the Federal Emergency Management Agency for over 75 years. \u201cTens of millions tied to new grant awards\u201d are in jeopardy because of the new rules, the release said.<\/p>\n

Mendoza said the federal government has not yet withheld grants from the city, but added that Trump\u2019s administration is attempting to enforce the new rules next year. The money Chicago could lose is part of a $100 million total for the signed cities, Mendoza said.<\/p>\n

The complaint cited new \u201canti-discrimination\u201d guidelines issued by DHS in April. Those guidelines also require grant recipients to certify that they will not \u201coperate any program that benefits illegal immigrants or incentivizes illegal immigration.\u201d<\/p>\n

Johnson\u2019s administration has repeatedly filed and joined lawsuits against Trump\u2019s administration this year. Most recently, a lawsuit filed by the city and Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul won a judge\u2019s order halting Trump\u2019s deployment of Illinois and Texas National Guard troops throughout the area. Trump\u2019s administration argues the troops are needed to protect immigration agents and facilities.<\/p>\n

Johnson promised in April to sue over Trump\u2019s threats to revoke Chicago Public Schools federal funding over diversity programs. Later that month, the city joined a lawsuit against Trump in a bid to halt the firing of federal employees.<\/p>\n

Tribune reporter Jason Meisner contributed.<\/p>\n

Originally Published: October 20, 2025 at 12:04 PM CDT<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mayor Brandon Johnson\u2019s administration filed another lawsuit Monday against President Donald Trump\u2019s administration, this time in a bid…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":319104,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5124],"tags":[960,5404,5386,1818,1370,50,80],"class_list":{"0":"post-319103","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-chicago","8":"tag-chicago","9":"tag-cook-county","10":"tag-il","11":"tag-illinois","12":"tag-latest-headlines","13":"tag-news","14":"tag-politics"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/319103","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=319103"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/319103\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/319104"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=319103"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=319103"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=319103"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}