The city of San Diego, along with several other municipalities and nonprofit organizations, sued the Trump administration this week over its freeze on federal grant funding, which the San Diego City Attorney's Office says has already impacted a local forestry program and put several other city initiatives at risk.
The 86-page complaint filed in federal court in South Carolina names President Donald Trump and DOGE senior advisor Elon Musk, among others, as defendants. The lawsuit alleges Trump's executive orders halting the disbursements of congressionally appropriated funds is unlawful.
The San Diego City Attorney's Office says that locally, the funding freeze has impacted the city's Ready, Set, Grow San Diego program, for which San Diego was awarded a $10 million grant from the USDA's Urban and Community Forestry grant program. The five-year program aims to plant and maintain trees in Bay Terraces, City Heights, Encanto, Linda Vista, Oak Park, Otay Mesa-Nestor and Paradise Hills, as part of efforts to "improve the city's urban forest, reduce extreme heat, increase stormwater absorption, reduce air pollution, and protect vulnerable communities," according to the City Attorney's Office.
"Trees aren't political — they shouldn't be used in gamesmanship that hurts communities who have been promised environmental investments," City Attorney Heather Ferbert said. "The freeze on these already committed federal funds puts critical community programs in jeopardy, impacting the health, safety, and quality of life for San Diegans."
The city also recently joined in a lawsuit challenging the Trump administration's withholding of federal grant funds from so-called sanctuary cities, which the City Attorney's Office alleges threatens U.S. Department of Justice grant funding for law enforcement and public safety initiatives.
