Department of Transportation (DOT) Sec. Sean Duffy has threatened to withhold funding from states that refuse to comply with President Donald Trump’s executive orders, warning them that utilizing diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) practices and resisting compliance with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) could result in “enforcement actions being taken by DOT.”
Duffy, a former Wisconsin congressman who was selected by Trump in November to run the department, addressed a letter to all DOT grant recipients on Wednesday to remind them that they must comply with federal law to receive taxpayer dollars for transportation projects, Breitbart News learned.
Letter to Grant Applicants_final by Breitbart News
The secretary’s office told Breitbart News that failure to fall in line with the administration, including the president’s executive orders, “could result in enforcement actions being taken by DOT.”
“That means recipients that have policies that actively fail to protect Americans’ right to free speech, continue to use discriminatory DEI policies, and disrupt federal agencies (like ICE) as they work to enforce federal immigration laws could face enforcement action,” a representative for Duffy revealed.
An executive order Trump signed on January 20 reinforces the First Amendment of the United States Constitution after “the previous administration trampled free speech rights by censoring Americans’ speech on online platforms, often by exerting substantial coercive pressure on third parties, such as social media companies, to moderate, deplatform, or otherwise suppress speech that the Federal Government did not approve.”
Another executive order signed on Inauguration Day aims to end “illegal and immoral discrimination programs” that disguise themselves under the DEI label, which infected “virtually all aspects of the Federal Government” under the Biden administration.
A third day-one Trump executive order “ensures that the Federal Government protects the American people by faithfully executing the immigration laws of the United States,” ordering federal and state agencies to fully enforce laws to prevent illegal immigration and remove noncitizen aliens.
Excerpts of Duffy’s letter to DOT grant recipients obtained by Breitbart News revealed the secretary’s stern reminder to follow such orders signed by Trump:
As recipients of such DOT funds, you have entered into legally enforceable agreements with the United States Government and are obligated to comply fully with all applicable Federal laws and regulations. These laws and regulations include the United States Constitution, Federal statutes, applicable rules, and public policy requirements, including, among others, those protecting free speech and religious liberty and those prohibiting discrimination and enforcing controls on illegal immigration. As Secretary of Transportation, I am responsible for ensuring recipients of DOT financial assistance are aware of and comply with all applicable legal obligations.
Duffy went on to denounce DEI as “discriminatory,” warning grant recipients that practice such policies that they are in “clear violation of Federal law and the terms of your grant agreements”:
Whether or not described in neutral terms, any policy, program, or activity that is premised on a prohibited classification, including discriminatory policies or practices designed to achieve so-called “diversity, equity, and inclusion,” or “DEI,” goals, presumptively violates Federal law. Recipients of DOT financial assistance must ensure that the personnel practices (including hiring, promotions, and terminations) within their organizations are merit-based and do not discriminate based on prohibited categories. Recipients are also precluded from allocating money received under DOT awards—such as through contracts or the provision of other benefits—based on suspect classifications. Any discriminatory actions in your policies, programs, and activities based on prohibited categories constitute a clear violation of Federal law and the terms of your grant agreements.
Another fiery excerpt from the letter demands that Democrat-controlled states not only refrain from impeding ICE and other agencies from doing their jobs to remove illegal aliens, but also “cooperate” with them:
In addition, your legal obligations require cooperation generally with Federal authorities in the enforcement of Federal law, including cooperating with and not impeding U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and other Federal offices and components of the Department of Homeland Security in the enforcement of Federal immigration law.
The secretary added that DOT is already aware of “reported instances” in which some grant recipients have “declined to cooperate with ICE investigations, have issued driver’s licenses to individuals present in the United States in violation of Federal immigration law, or have otherwise acted in a manner that impedes Federal law enforcement.”
“Such actions undermine Federal sovereignty in the enforcement of immigration law, compromise the safety and security of the transportation systems supported by DOT financial assistance, and prioritize illegal aliens over the safety and welfare of the American people whose Federal taxes fund DOT’s financial assistance programs,” Duffy wrote.
In a statement to Breitbart News, Sec. Sean Duffy emphasized that “Federal grants come with a clear obligation to adhere to federal laws.”
“It shouldn’t be controversial – enforce our immigration rules, end anti-American DEI policies, and protect free speech. These values reflect the priorities of the American people, and I will take action to ensure compliance,” the secretary added.
Duffy’s letter displays a stark contrast between former President Joe Biden’s DOT, led by failed Democrat presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg, and the Trump administration’s ramped-up department focusing on the priorities of the American taxpayers.
In a recent push for “radical transparency,” Duffy announced that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) would be conducting drone testing over Cape May, New Jersey, after the Biden administration left Americans in the dark about the “drone fiasco” that took place towards the end of Biden’s term.
Residents of New Jersey and other east coast states were perturbed and alarmed at the end of 2024 by mysterious drone sightings, which neither Biden nor Buttigieg gave clear answers for.
At the time, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) released a joint statement asserting that there was “no evidence at this time that the reported drone sightings pose a national security or public safety threat or have a foreign nexus.”
When Trump took office in January of this year, new White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt revealed the truth — that the “mystery” drones were, in fact, authorized by the FAA.
It remains unclear why the Biden administration refused to provide that information, but Duffy appears to be turning a new leaf as the Trump administration’s transportation chief.
Olivia Rondeau is a politics reporter for Breitbart News based in Washington, DC. Find her on X/Twitter and Instagram.
