Defending the city’s reparations program, which is now being challenged by the Trump administration in federal court, Evanston Mayor Daniel Biss said Thursday night the city’s first-in-the-nation program is “repaying a debt” the city owes.

During an interview on CNN, Biss said the program was designed to address “specific acts taken by the city on purpose,” referring to allegedly discriminatory housing policies in the early 20th century.

“That created a wealth gap that exists today, that people are suffering from today, and we created a program to address that gap, repair the harm that we caused, that’s just repaying a debt that you owe,” Biss said.

Biss said he felt the city did “a really good job of designing a program specifically to address the harms that we caused as a city.”

a legal argument that will need to pass muster in federal court should the DOJ’s case proceed, the Assistant U.S. Attorney General for Civil Rights, Harmeet K. Dhillon and Chicago U.S. Attorney Andrew Boutros announced Wednesday they plan to intervene in the an existing civil rights case, filed by non-Black former Evanston residents who allege they would’ve been eligible for the program if not for the racial requirement..

The DOJ is likely to argue the program is discriminatory because it specifically identifies race, challenging the program’s constitutionality and also arguing it violated the Fair Housing Act, passed in 1968 specifically to address racial housing segregation.

“Unfortunately, what we’ve seen is the Trump administration saying, ‘We don’t want you to address racism,’ ‘We don’t want you to try and make your communities more equitable,’” Biss said Thursday night, arguing other leaders and communities considering similar reparations programs should work to determine what’s best for those communities but not turn away in the face of opposition.

The city sought to get the case dismissed, though a federal judge allowed it to proceed last month, as the DOJ began investigating the city itself, according to the federal court filings.

“We stand behind our first-in-the-nation reparations program, are confident in its constitutionality, and look forward to defending it in court,” Biss said Wednesday.

In a statement, Dhillon, a close Trump ally whose led the Trump administration’s opposition to diversity, equity and inclusion and affirmative action programs nationwide, wrote there are “sound ways for a city to remedy past discrimination or direct resources to its most vulnerable citizens and neighborhoods,” but said “Simply handing out money based on race, however, is not the answer. It is race discrimination, pure and simple. And it is illegal.”

The city’s program was launched in 2021, allocating $20 million to Black residents who lived in the city between 1919 and 1968 and their descendants.

Recipients receive $25,000 to be used for home repairs or other housing-related expenses. The city has already distributed over $7 million under the program.

The program was approved in an 8-1 vote under former Mayor Steve Hagerty, with former 9th Ward Ald. Cicely Flemming the only council member to vote against it, opposing the restrictions the program imposed on what recipients could use the funds for.