Executive Orders and Actions Impacting Cities

HSTFs are to be established by the U.S. Attorney General and Secretary of Homeland Security and include representation from other federal agencies with law enforcement officers, or agencies with the ability to provide logistics, intelligence, and operational support. In addition, HSTFs are to include representation from relevant state and local law enforcement agencies.

As stated in President Trump’s order (Protecting the American People Against Invasion), the objective of each HSTF is to “end the presence of criminal cartels, foreign gangs, and transnational criminal organizations throughout the United States, dismantle cross-border human smuggling and trafficking networks, end the scourge of human smuggling and trafficking, with a particular focus on such offenses involving children, and ensure the use of all available law enforcement tools to faithfully execute the immigration laws of the United States.”

Yes, law enforcement members of LMCIT’s PATROL — Peace officer Accredited TRaining OnLine program, can learn about immigration law and their responsibilities as an officer. This updated course will be available in early 2025. Read more about the PATROL program.

There is no specific statutory definition of sanctuary city. Sanctuary cities generally limit their cooperation with federal immigration officials by adopting ordinances or policies that limit the use of city resources available to aid immigration officials in investigating federal immigration violations. Regardless, local law enforcement agencies still enforce state and local criminal laws.

The League does not track this data.

The executive order does not require cities to discontinue current DEI programs. However, cities should stay tuned to determine what, if any, effect DEI programs will have on federal grants and assistance. In addition, President Trump’s order requires the creation of a report, within 120 days of the order, containing recommendations for enforcing federal civil rights laws and taking other appropriate measures to encourage the “private sector to end illegal discrimination and preferences, including DEI.” It is unclear what, if any, affect this report will have on cities. It is always important to work with your city attorney if review or revision to an individual city’s program is being contemplated.

The League does not track this data.

Generally, the executive orders do not apply to local policies. However, cities should review any federal grants and assistance they receive to determine if local policies and procedures will jeopardize those funds. It is always important to work with your city attorney if review or revision to an individual city’s policies or procedures is being contemplated.

According to guidance from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), only programs implicated by President Trump’s executive orders are subject to the pause. The executive orders listed in OMB memo are:

• Protecting the American People Against Invasion.
• Reevaluating and Realigning United States Foreign Aid.
• Putting America First in International Environmental Agreements.
• Unleashing American Energy.
• Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing.
• Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth tothe Federal Government.
• Enforcing the Hyde Amendment.

Any program that provides direct benefits to individuals is not subject to the pause. While the OMB memo has been rescinded, it appears the pauses may continue based on other guidance.

The initial Office of Management and Budget (OMB) memo required federal agencies to report back by Feb. 10. With the recission of the memo, there is no clear timeline.

Yes. Almost immediately, many stakeholders turned to the courts to seek clarity. On Jan. 28, a federal judge temporarily blocked the federal funding pause from going into effect until Feb. 3. It is anticipated there will be many legal challenges for the federal courts to consider in the coming days and weeks. In addition, a coalition of 23 state attorneys general, including Minnesota’s, filed a lawsuit in a Rhode Island court seeking to stop the implementation of any funding pauses authorized by the executive orders.

On Jan. 31, the Federal District Court of Rhode Island issued a temporary restraining order against the federal government. The Court’s order noted that the Federal Government “shall not pause, freeze, impede, block, cancel, or terminate its compliance with award and obligations to provide federal financial assistance to the States, and … shall not impede the States’ access to such awards and obligations, except based on the applicable authorizing statutes, regulations and terms.”

That is not entirely clear. An OMB memo, which was later rescinded, notes that any program that provides direct benefits to Americans is explicitly excluded from the pause and exempted from this review process. The White House has said Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and SNAP will continue without pause and funds for small businesses, farmers, Pell grants, Head Start, rental assistance, and other similar programs will not be paused.

Through the order, Initial Rescissions of Harmful Executive Orders and Actions, the Biden-era executive order Implementation of the Infrastructure and Jobs Act, has been revoked. The initial Office of Management and Budget (OMB) memo directed federal agencies to immediately pause the disbursement of funds appropriated through the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 and the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. With the recission of the OMB memo, and the temporary restraining order issued on Jan. 31, it is unclear how these funds will be affected.

According to the initial memo issued by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), OMB may grant exceptions allowing federal agencies to issue new awards or take other actions on a case-by-case basis. With the recission of the OMB memo, it remains unclear whether exceptions will be made.

The funding pause may cause delays or cancellations of projects and may result in economic uncertainty, and impact both future and local projects already underway. Cities should carefully review their grant agreements for payment obligations. Cities that haven’t signed grant agreements should reach out to the relevant agencies and expect that responses will vary by program. For new contracts that are contingent upon the city’s receipt of anticipated federal funding, cities should consider including a provision that if such funding is not received, is reduced, or is otherwise unavailable for any reason beyond the city’s control, the city may, upon written notice to the other party, suspend performance of or terminate the contract, in whole or in part, without liability or penalty.

Legal challenges both for project delays and the broader constitutional implications should be expected. And finally, cities should inform their agency contacts about any disruptions, and document the related costs or losses (and share this with LMC and your members of Congress).

Through a memo released by the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT), DOT staff is directed to identify and eliminate all orders, directives, rules, regulations, notices, guidance documents, funding agreements, programs and policy statements, or portion thereof, adopted during President Biden’s term which reference or relate in any way to climate change, “greenhouse gas” emissions, racial equity, gender identity, “diversity, equity, and inclusion” goals, environmental justice, or the Justice 40 Initiative. It is unclear what, if any, affect this memo will have on ongoing funding agreements with DOT. 

In addition, the DOT Secretary issued an order to ensure that all DOT grants, loans, contracts and DOT-supported or assisted state contracts meet specific requirements.  Among other requirements, the DOT Secretary’s order provides that DOT programs, including grants, loan and contracts, shall not be used to “further local political objectives or for projects and goals that are purely local in nature and unrelated to a proper Federal interest.”

The order provides that DOT programs, including loans, grants, and contracts shall prioritize projects and goals that:

• Utilize user-pay models.
• Direct funding to local opportunity zones.
• To the extent practicable, mitigate the unique impacts of DOT activities on families and family-specific difficulties, such as the accessibility of transportation to families with young children and give preference to communities with marriage and birth rates higher than the national average.
• Prohibit recipients of DOT funds from imposing vaccine and mask mandates.
• Require local compliance or cooperation with federal immigration enforcement and with other presidential goals.

Until further guidance is given by DOT, it remains unclear how these changes will affect existing city projects. 

It is common for cities to receive funds from state programs which are funded by the federal government. Cities should check with the state to determine if any of these programs are affected.

The executive order, Council to Assess the Federal Emergency Management Agency, does not require any immediate changes to FEMA responses. The order creates a “FEMA Review Council” charged with assessing and enhancing FEMA’s effectiveness. The review council is to provide an assessment of the adequacy of FEMA’s response to disasters during the previous four years, and compare FEMA’s responses with other state, local, and private sector responses. It is not yet known if any of the council’s recommendations will affect cities.

This is a complex and rapidly evolving situation. There are still many uncertainties, and we are working diligently to gather more information. While we are striving to stay nimble and responsive to your needs, we want to ensure that neither we nor you take premature actions before having the clarity and context required to make informed decisions. We also encourage you to work closely with your city attorney as your city develops plans related to executive orders and other federal actions.

If you have questions related to these FAQs or the federal executive orders in general, contact the League’s Research Department at [email protected].

View the White House webpage for more information about the executive actions.