Trump administration

Memo ties CT federal transportation money to policies like immigration enforcement

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Connecticut received a memo from the Department of Transportation that ties federal transportation dollars to policies ranging from vaccine mandates to immigration enforcement.

Connecticut received a memo from the U.S. Department of Transportation that ties federal transportation dollars to policies ranging from vaccine mandates to immigration enforcement.

The four-page memo, signed by Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, said the Trump administration will prioritize projects and goals that include prohibiting recipients from “imposing mask or vaccine mandates” and require “local compliance or cooperation with federal immigration enforcement.”

It also gives preference “to communities with marriage and birth rates higher than the national average."

“It's just shocking to me that that's what the message to our Department of Transportation was,” Gov. Ned Lamont said during a Capitol briefing on Thursday.

He said it surprised him that the Connecticut DOT got this memo. It comes after an Office of Management and Budget memo freezing federal loans and grants was rescinded Wednesday after creating confusion nationwide.

“Now we're finding that each and every one of the departments are coming out with their own special set of restrictions and rules that can harm us,” Lamont said.

He said the Connecticut DOT wasn’t the only state agency to receive a similar memo.

“DPH, Department of Public Health, they said we're going to cut funding for anything related to DEI. Not a big surprise there,” Lamont said.

Duffy’s memo shows its purpose is to update standards to ensure federally-supported grants “bolster the American economy and benefit the American people.”

Connecticut gets hundreds of millions of dollars in federal transportation money to fund all sorts of road and bridge projects.

Lamont said linking transportation money to higher birth rates and immigration enforcement is confusing, but he isn’t jumping to any conclusions for now.

“Let's settle down and see where we sort out,” he said.

NBC Connecticut reached out to state GOP leaders for comment but didn't hear back.

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