San Francisco is filing another federal lawsuit against the Trump administration, this time over funding the city says is crucial in preventing terrorist and nuclear attacks.
San Francisco is one of five cities that filed the suit Monday afternoon in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. Like many other legal challenges aimed at President Donald Trump, it claims the White House overstepped its authority by freezing funding that Congress had already authorized.
The suit involves a pot of funding under the Securing the Cities program, which Congress passed and Trump approved in 2018. Roughly $10 million was awarded between 2020 and 2029 to more than a dozen California cities and counties for nuclear detection equipment, exercises, and training.
City Attorney David Chiu said in a statement that Trump “illegally yanked” the Securing the Cities funding “with no explanation.” He added, “Keeping our communities safe is our city’s top priority, and it should be the top priority of the Trump administration as well.”
The city said the freezing of the security funds has left the city waiting to be reimbursed by the federal government. In April, a $412,083 reimbursement from the Department of Homeland Security that normally takes two days or less had not been paid for expenses related to the program. In May, the city was told by DHS that the security program must pause because of “federal funding constraints.”
The city said security at major events, including the forthcoming Super Bowl LX at Levi’s Stadium and the FIFA World Cup games in 2026, could be compromised without the federal funding.
Since taking office in January, Trump has depleted or outright gutted funding for a swath of government departments, including the United States Agency for International Development and the Internal Revenue Service.
The White House has defended the cuts in the name of fiscal responsibility or with claims that departments are rife with fraud and abuse.
A White House spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the lawsuit, which is joined by the cities of Chicago, Boston, Denver, and Seattle.
“DHS’s funding freeze already impaired public safety,” the lawsuit reads. “Plaintiffs have told vendors to stop work on vital equipment and have canceled training designed to protect against terrorist attacks.”
This is the seventh legal challenge San Francisco has filed against the Republican president. Others have focused on Trump’s funding threats to sanctuary cities and grant requirements for housing money.