Key facts
- The Trump administration is challenging Evanston, Illinois's reparations program for Black residents.
- The Justice Department claims the program is discriminatory by providing financial assistance only to Black persons and their descendants.
- Evanston's program offers grants of up to $25,000 to eligible Black residents or their ancestors who lived in the city between 1919 and 1969.
- The city maintains its position on the legality of the program and is prepared to defend it in court.
- The Justice Department plans to intervene in an existing lawsuit that challenges the program.
The Trump administration has stated its intention to challenge Evanston, Illinois's reparations program, which offers financial assistance to Black residents to address historical discrimination. The U.S. Justice Department argued that the program is discriminatory because it distributes payments and housing assistance solely to Black individuals and their descendants, not to similarly situated persons of other races.