WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Trump administration said on Thursday states could lose transportation funding over a failure to cooperate on federal immigration enforcement efforts or for maintaining diversity, equity and inclusion programs.
U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy told states and other grant recipients in a letter that recipients of Transportation Department financial assistance must ensure personnel practices are “merit-based.”
“If you receive government grants, you must follow federal laws,” Duffy said in the letter. “Enforce our immigration rules, end discriminatory DEI policies, and protect free speech.”
Duffy noted that some states that have received financial assistance have declined to cooperate with federal immigration investigations or issued driver’s licenses to individuals present in the United States in violation of federal immigration law.
In March, a U.S. appeals court said the Trump administration could temporarily ban DEI programs at federal agencies and businesses with government contracts.
Transportation Department Awards More Than $50 Billion
The Transportation Department annually awards more than $50 billion in grants in addition to formula funding for highways to states.
Government agencies like the Federal Communications Commission and the Labor and Education Departments have sought to crack down on DEI practices after President Donald Trump issued an executive order seeking to ban the practice.
A senior Democratic lawmaker criticized the letter.
“This latest missive from the Trump Administration injects more unnecessary chaos into infrastructure projects underway all around the country” said Representative Rick Larsen, the top Democrat on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. “Culture wars have no place in transportation policy. Secretary Duffy should reverse course and allow projects around the country to be completed without ideological interference.”
In January, Duffy signed a memo giving preference for transit grants to communities with higher marriage and birth rates and to bar Transportation Department grant recipients from imposing vaccine or mask mandates.
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(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Leslie Adler)
