CHICAGO (CN) - The city of Chicago says in a Friday lawsuit that the Department of Homeland Security acted beyond its legal authority after it cut funding to the city's counterterrorism program.
"The actions taken by the federal government are unconstitutional. The United States Constitution assigns the responsibility to enact laws and appropriate funds, while requiring the president to execute those laws," Mary Richardson-Lowry, Chicago's chief corporation counsel, said in an emailed statement.
In the 18-page-complaint naming the department and DHS Secretary Kristi Noem as defendants, the city accuses DHS of violating the separation of powers and the Administrative Procedures Act.
The Department of Homeland Security began awarding Chicago money for counterterrorism efforts and equipment back in 2015 after it deemed the city a "high risk" area for terrorist attacks.
Chicago received this funding through DHS's Securing the Cities program, which was established in 2007, to help at risk cities detect nuclear and radiological materials and respond to terrorist attacks. DHS paused the program on Wednesday, citing "federal funding constraints."
The city attributes the department's funding freeze on these counterterrorism efforts to the Department of Government Efficiency's cost-cutting initiative.
"It is unclear whether the DHS office responsible for Securing the Cities will even continue to exist: press reports indicate that the so-called Department of Government Efficiency intends to dismantle that office," Chicago notes in the suit.
The city claims that Congress consistently appropriated funds for the Securing the Cities program, including in March 2025 when the U.S. House of Representatives passed a voice vote of the Securing the Cities Improvement Act, which sought to strengthen the program after a terrorist attack in New Orleans in January 2025.
In previous years, the department typically reimbursed Chicago within 72 hours of receiving the city's request. However, since February 2025, Chicago has submitted five reimbursement requests for pre-approved expenditures totaling nearly $1 million, which DHS has effectively ignored.
"DHS has not so much as suggested that there is anything 'improper' about Chicago's requests. On the contrary, the federal government told Chicago that its reimbursement requests were 'approved,' but that '[a]ll' such requests are 'paused,'" the city says.
Chicago sought reimbursement for money spent on equipment designed to detect nuclear materials, and other products or services that were either expressly authorized in the cooperative agreements or pre-approved by the department.
The funds are administered through cooperative agreements with local governments in the respective regions under the Securing the Cities program. Unlike grants, cooperative agreements require substantially more involvement with the federal agencies.
Initially, the program focused solely on the New York, Jersey City and Newark region. It eventually expanded to include Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, Washington DC, Atlanta, Boston, Denver, Maricopa County, Miami, New Orleans, San Francisco and Seattle.
This isn't the first lawsuit Chicago filed against a federal agency since President Donald Trump took office.
The city filed a lawsuit against the Federal Emergency Management Agency on Friday over funding cuts to programs meant to help feed and house newly arrived migrants.
And in April, Chicago joined a collation of other cities in a lawsuit challenging the Trump administration's firing of federal employees.
"We made a commitment to the people of Chicago that we would resist any and all attempts by this administration to steal funds that belong to the people of Chicago," Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson said in an emailed statement. "We will not roll over or lie down in the face of tyranny. Whether it's funding for education, housing, healthcare or emergency management, we will utilize every tool we have to go after what is rightfully ours."
Source: Courthouse News Service
