Photographer: Scott Eells/Bloomberg

A September 22 press release from the U.S. Department of Justice designating three American cities as “anarchist jurisdictions” took at least one of them by surprise. Neither U.S. Attorney General William Barr nor any other DOJ official has been in contact with Seattle leaders to discuss the possibility of stripping federal funds from the city.

That’s the threat now hanging over the heads of leaders in Seattle, New York City and Portland, Oregon. Barr’s Monday-morning missive was the first step toward fulfilling a September 2 memo signed by President Donald Trump that seeks to review federal funding for any state or local jurisdictions deemed to be permitting anarchist violence.

“The Trump administration’s threats to defund Seattle, Portland, and New York are a gross misuse of federal power and blatantly unlawful,” said Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan in a statement. “Trump, the Department of Justice, and Barr’s obsession with Seattle and me is irrational and most importantly, a huge distraction.”

According to the presidential memo, these cities could lose their eligibility for federal funds as soon as early next week. The president’s September 2 memo calls on the director of the Office of Management and Budget to issue guidance within 30 days to administrators of federal agencies on “restricting eligibility or otherwise disfavoring” localities identified by the administration from receiving federal funds.

The White House is escalating its efforts to bring nationwide Black Lives Matter protests to heel by punishing the cities where they’re held, most of which are led by Democrats. While the blustery language of this campaign has been met with some mockery, befuddlement and disbelief — as one self-described anarchist told Gothamist’s Jake Offenhartz, “anarchists don’t do jurisdictions,” — the stakes are serious. Billions of dollars in funding for schools, roads and other functions — including law enforcement — could be held back. That’s money that cities desperately need as their budgets turned upside down due to Covid-19.

In trying to use the power of the purse to compel local leaders to follow its wishes, the Trump administration is hardly alone: Republicans at all levels of government are threatening to withhold money from cities, with law enforcement at the crux of all these efforts. For example, last month Texas Governor Greg Abbott threatened to freeze property taxes for any Texas cities that defund police departments. The legislation, which the Texas state legislature could consider when it convenes in January, would stifle spending for Texas cities, which are particularly dependent on property taxes and currently face massive budget shortfalls. So far, only Austin has moved to defund police: In August, the city council voted to strip $150 million from the city’s police department and repurpose those funds for other community services.

“Any kind of cap that’s imposed at the state level on local communities is a problem,” Austin Mayor Steve Adler said during a press conference on August 18. “I think it takes away fundamental and basic freedom, rights, from local communities to be able to decide what their priorities are in that community.”

In recent weeks, Texas Republicans have ratcheted up the pressure on Austin. The governor tweeted on September 3 that Texas is considering taking over the Austin Police Department entirely. As Jolie McCullough reports in the The Texas Tribune, a separate bill before the next Texas legislature would give the Texas Department of Public Safety the power to consolidate authority over the police force of any city with more than 1 million people and fewer than 2 police officers per 1,000 residents — a description that, in Texas, applies only to Austin.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has gone further. On Monday, the governor pledged that any municipality that targeted local police departments for budget cuts would lose its state funding. DeSantis announced the plan as he introduced a broader bill that would attach severe criminal penalties to protest actions deemed disorderly by the state, making it a felony to destroy a statue or monument and setting a mandatory six-month minimum sentence for anyone convicted of striking an officer during an unlawful protest. Lawmakers in Florida could take up the bill as soon as March, when the legislature next convenes.

Without mentioning the GOP’s dwindling reputation as the party that prioritizes “local control,” the National League of Cities has been quick to note that the White House campaign is “in direct violation of the Tenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which gives the states and local governments the power of policing to establish and enforce laws protecting the welfare, safety, and health of the public.” In a letter to the president dated September 9 and signed with other NLC officials, Los Angeles city councilman and NLC president Joe Buscaino wrote: 

When our nation is grappling with the coronavirus pandemic, the economic recession caused by the epidemic, and the ongoing protesting of police brutality, instead of working with cities, your memorandum seeks to undermine the very foundation of our federalist system. Local government leaders will not acquiesce to your efforts to threaten our local authority to police our communities and provide public safety services to our residents.

While Republicans are positioning themselves as defenders of police budgets, there’s a twist: It’s Republicans in the Senate who are making those cuts more likely, by refusing to pass another coronavirus relief bill. The HEROES Act, which was passed by the House in May, included some $500 billion for states, $375 billion for cities, $20 billion for territories and $20 billion for tribal lands, but that bill has not gained any traction among GOP senators. Instead, Senate Republicans introduced a “skinny” stimulus bill, but it contained no new dollars for state or local governments, and it failed to pass the Senate anyway.

Cuts to law enforcement are almost certainly coming, given the severity of economic damage that the pandemic is doing to state and local governments. The Center on Budget Policy and Priorities estimates that state budget shortfalls will add up to 10% for fiscal year 2020 and more than 20% for FY 2021, with Texas among the states hit hardest. Without any further federal aid, the Economic Policy Institute estimates that some 5.3 million people could lose their jobs by the end of 2021. And according to the EPI, job losses in the public sector will be felt chiefly among women and Black workers.

That means that the Black communities hurt most by over-policing and under-policing stand to face consequences from the federal government if protests against police violence erupt, and consequences from the state government if local authorities try to solve the problem themselves. If Congress does nothing, the status quo is just as damaging.

“In Seattle, we’ll remain focused on addressing the four crises in front of us: the COVID-19 pandemic, an unprecedented economic downturn, the greatest civil rights reckoning in decades and the continued threat of climate change,” Durkan said.