Democrat-led Harris County is joining a lawsuit against President Donald Trump's administration in an attempt to stop federal layoffs in Washington DC.
Harris County's top official, County Judge Lena Hidalgo, announced on Tuesday that the county has joined unions, local governments, left-leaning non-profits and other groups, claiming that layoffs might affect local access to federal funding for health and resources, such as rebuilding after hurricanes.
Hidalgo was joined by County Attorney Christian Menefee for a news conference on Tuesday to announce their support of the lawsuit, calling for Trump to be efficient in handling government cutbacks, something he hasn't been doing, they said.
Hidalgo said, "what the Trump administration is doing right now is not to look for that efficiency. The Trump administration is pretty much undergoing a stunt that impacts the lives of people day-to-day. And the goal is to make headlines and create chaos instead of efficiency."
Continuing with the current talking points used by Democrats, Menefee said the approach being taken by the White House will negatively affect Social Security recipients, along with Veterans Affairs, the EPA and FEMA services.
Although at least 120,000 federal employees have been laid off or fired under the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) across 27 agencies, Hidalgo said "tens of thousands" had been fired from 20 federal agencies.
Menefee claimed the efforts by DOGE and Trump are "unconstitutional" and "extra-statutory."
The lawsuit has been filed in Washington DC by a number of entities led by Democrats, including the City of Chicago and the City of Baltimore, Maryland.
The filers claim that actions taken by President Trump, Elon Musk and the heads of nearly two dozen federal agencies to dramatically downsize the federal workforce are unconstitutional because Congress did not authorize them.
And those plaintiffs include nonprofit groups and unions that have sued the Trump administration in the past in the San Francisco court over its mass firing of federal employees.