SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) — San Francisco has joined four other cities in a lawsuit against President Donald Trump’s Department of Homeland Security regarding the possible freezing of funds for counterterrorism efforts.
San Francisco receives more than $1 million a year from the “Securing the Cities” program used to detect and prevent terrorist and nuclear attacks.
“We’ve been ranked by the federal government as one of the urban areas around the country that is at the top of the list when it comes to vulnerability and risk,” said San Francisco City Attorney David Chiu. “We are right behind New York and Los Angeles and Chicago. This is important work that we need to ensure that we are being kept safe. And we’ve been mystified as to why the Trump administration would freeze this funding.”
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City Attorney Chiu said the funding is used for things like providing detection equipment, training and expertise and that while San Francisco administers the program, there are 17 cities and counties in Northern California and western Nevada that are part of it.
This comes as the Bay Area prepares to host the FIFA World Cup and Super Bowl at Levi’s Stadium next year.
“We are working to make sure those events will be safe, but this funding freeze, obviously, is not helpful toward that goal,” Chiu said. “As a region, as a city, we’re going to do everything we can to ensure the safety of everyone who is going to be taking part in those events. But this is not helpful.”
President Trump signed the “Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction Act” in 2018, passed by Congress. It required DHS to establish the “Securing the Cities” counterterrorism program.
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This is the seventh lawsuit San Francisco has filed against the Trump administration on a range of topics.
Chiu says they are confident regarding this latest lawsuit, which Chicago, Boston, Denver and Seattle are also part of.
ABC7 News has reached out to the Department of Homeland Security regarding the lawsuit, but hasn’t heard back.
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