
Public safety funding promised to Colorado still frozen by Trump administration despite court order
Colorado Governor Jared Polis urged the Trump administration to comply with a court order prohibiting the federal government from freezing funding, highlighting $69.5 million in public safety grants promised to the state.

At the end of January, President Donald Trump issued a sweeping freeze on federal spending, which a federal judge soon temporarily blocked. State officials said more than $570 million that Congress approved for Colorado remained inaccessible in early February.
A news release from Polis, a Democrat, said the administration has stopped paying for Homeland Security grants allocated to the state in defiance of a court order mandating funding be disbursed. The release said the state will do “everything it can to bridge the gap in funding.”
“In Colorado, we are focused on improving public safety and this delay and uncertainty makes us less safe,” Polis said in a statement. “Common sense support to improve safety for Boys and Girls Clubs, places of worship, stopping school violence, and disaster assistance is illegally being cut off by the Trump administration. This wrecking ball approach from the federal government puts communities throughout Colorado at risk.”
Funding promised to Colorado that the state has not received includes:
- $18.66 million from state homeland security grants
- $6.36 million from emergency management performance grants
- $9.79 million from state and local cybersecurity grants
- $2.45 million in emergency operations center grants
- $9.87 million from nonprofit security grants
- $775,720 from targeted violence and terrorism prevention grants
- $15.2 million from urban area security initiative grants
Summit County Sheriff Jaime FitzSimons said the ongoing funding freeze is “deeply concerning” for his county.
“As home to the most visited national forest in the nation — the White River National Forest — a critical stretch of Interstate 70, and dam infrastructure vital to the Colorado River Basin, Summit County relies on federal funding to support public safety across private, public, and federal lands,” FitzSimons, a Democrat, said in a statement. “Public safety must remain a priority, and restoring these funds is essential.”