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Mayor Brandon Johnson, City Of Chicago Win Court Order Restoring Federal Shelter And Services Program

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CHICAGO — A federal judge has granted the City of Chicago's motion for a preliminary injunction in its lawsuit challenging the Department of Homeland Security and FEMA's termination of the Shelter and Services Program (SSP). Congress created the SSP to reimburse non-federal entities, including the City of Chicago, for costs incurred providing humanitarian assistance to new arrivals processed and released by the Department of Homeland Security.

"Chicago stepped up to meet the scale of the humanitarian crisis facing our city, and we did so under a program Congress created to support cities like ours," said Mayor Brandon Johnson. "While today's decision is a welcome development, we remain steadfast in our commitment to protect Chicagoans from Trump's cuts. My administration will continue to use every tool at our disposal to hold the Trump administration accountable to the law while making sure the people of Chicago receive and benefit from the federal dollars awarded to our city."

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The lawsuit—filed in May by Chicago, Denver, and Pima County—argued FEMA's funding freeze and elimination of the program violated the Constitution and federal law. Chicago received five SSP grants totaling over $66 million: three direct grants and two pass-through grants awarded through the State of Illinois.

Beginning in February 2025, FEMA unilaterally withheld funding under those grants, and then abruptly terminated the program. FEMA cited various justifications for these actions, including claiming that SSP facilitated illegal immigration; that SSP grant recipients should be investigated for unspecified violations of law; and finally, that operating SSP was inconsistent with the Trump Administration's priorities.

In a ruling issued on Friday, the Court found that the defendant's actions were arbitrary and capricious, and that freezing SSP funding based on a policy disagreement with Congress violates the separation of powers. The preliminary injunction prohibits DHS and FEMA from withholding SSP reimbursements for the reasons they cited in letters to the City and further enjoins the agencies from terminating the program created through Congress's 2023 and 2024 appropriations to DHS.

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"The City of Chicago will use every legal tool available to uphold the rule of law and defend the separation of powers that is a bedrock principle of our Constitutional system," said Corporation Counsel Mary B. Richardson-Lowry. "Congress created the Shelter and Services Program to reimburse cities for providing humanitarian assistance to new arrivals released by DHS. When DHS and FEMA unlawfully terminated that program despite Congress's direction, we acted swiftly, and the Court ruled that the federal government's actions violated the law."

The City intends to work with FEMA to resume processing reimbursement requests consistent with the judge's ruling and will continue to litigate the case.

Filed Under: Government, City
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