Harris County sues Trump administration, cites threat to hurricane season preparedness

HARRIS COUNTY, Texas — Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo and County Attorney Christian Menefee held a news conference Tuesday morning to announce a lawsuit against the Trump administration. The officials said the legal action is in response to what they describe as an unlawful reorganization of the federal government.

According to Hidalgo and Menefee, the restructuring efforts have already triggered mass layoffs across federal agencies and could lead to the closure of local Social Security field offices. They say these cuts also pose significant risks to emergency management operations as the region approaches hurricane season.

They’re worried about potential cuts to agencies like FEMA. They said it could make it harder to recover from a disaster.

This all comes down to pushing back on what they call an unlawful organization of the federal government.

Citing data from CNN, county officials say more than 120,000 federal workers have been fired or laid off in the first three months of President Donald Trump’s current term — more than double the number of job losses in any other sector. The figure does not include employees who accepted voluntary buyouts or were placed on administrative leave.

Hidalgo and Menefee also talked about other recent lawsuits filed by the county to protect public health funding and other critical local resources.

Despite the criticism, the Trump administration is pushing on with its plan.

Last week, President Donald Trump created a new rule to reclassify some career civil servants as “at-will” employees, making it easier to fire them.

“As for specific firings, I’d defer you to specific agencies, but … it’ll make it easier to get rid of rogue bureaucrats who are engaging in corruption,” White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said.

The lawsuit asks for a judge to call Trump’s acts unconstitutional and restrain them from enforcing the executive orders. It’s unclear if the Trump administration has responded.