The City and County of Denver joined four other cities in a lawsuit against the Trump administration regarding the freezing of funds used for counterterrorism measures.

Denver joined the lawsuit on Monday — along with Chicago, Boston, San Francisco and Seattle — against the Department of Homeland Security claiming that the department “acted beyond its legal authority” after it cut funding to the cities’ counterterrorism program on May 14, according to the lawsuit.

The Department of Homeland Security paused the program in May, leaving multiple disbursement requests on indefinite hold due to “federal funding constraints.”

The Securing the Cities Grant (STC) began as a pilot program in New York City in 2007, providing funds to the city for equipment and training to reduce the risk of radiological or nuclear weapon attacks against major metropolitan areas in the country. It then expanded to Houston and Chicago by 2016.

In 2018, the Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction Act formally authorized the program and allowed for more cities, all under Donald Trump’s first presidency.

The grant was then extended to cities deemed at high risk for terrorists attack — Denver, Seattle, Atlanta, Phoenix, Miami and San Francisco — in 2020.

The lawsuit also claimed that the Department of Government Efficiency has planned on closing the Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction Office, the sector of the Department of Homeland Security that oversees the program.

“The Trump Administration has not provided reasoning for why the funding was paused,” the City and County of Denver said in the release.

“National security is not a Democratic or Republican issue. It’s an American one, and losing this funding makes America less safe,” Mayor Mike Johnston said in a press release Monday. “You wouldn’t think we would need to go to federal court to explain why it’s important to protect citizens from terrorism, but here we are.”

In a similar scenario, the Trump administration laid out the plan to axe the Targeted Violence and Terrorism Prevention (TVTP) Grant Program in the 2026 fiscal budget.

TVTP — a program administered by the the Center for Prevention Programs and Partnerships (CP3) and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) — works to “develop sustainable, multidisciplinary prevention capabilities in local communities” along with pilot prevention approaches to curb terrorism, according to the program’s website. 

“It is the only federal grant program solely dedicated to helping local communities develop and strengthen their capabilities in this area,” the website says.

STC, on the other hand, focuses on nuclear-based attacks.

Since 2020, TVTP has provided nearly $90 million via 178 awards, training 38,250 people, according to its website.

The president’s budget claimed: “Programs like ‘Targeting Violence and Terrorism Prevention’ were weaponized to target Americans exercising their First Amendment rights.” 

Cuts to FEMA’s grant programs, including TVTP, will lead to $646 million in savings, according to the budget.

Denver has used the STC funding to “conduct security sweeps and monitor critical infrastructure” for events like President Joe Biden’s visit in November 2023, President Trump’s rally in Aurora in October 2024, concerts at Red Rocks, sports games and parades, according to the release.

Since the funding freeze, the city has canceled “critical training” for operational partners and has rejected training with other regional partners, according to the lawsuit. 

Furthermore, Denver cannot repair broken equipment used to detect nuclear or radiological materials and cannot install a $263,000 mobile-security unit designed to monitor events for risks to public safety.

“Equipment funded through the program, Securing the Cities, is used in routine daily operations by Denver Police, Denver Fire, Denver Health and Hospital Authority, and Colorado State Patrol,” the city said.

The lawsuit argues that there is no provision allowing for a president to amend or repeal statutes and that the power of government spending is held by Congress, not the president.