Port Authority Accused Of Illegal Racial Preferences In Contracts

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey is accused of unlawfully reserving 20% of its contracts for minority-owned businesses and permitting favored vendors to bid up to 10% above market rates, according to a civil rights complaint filed Monday by a conservative watchdog group, the New York Post reported Monday evening.

The challenge, brought by America First Legal (AFL), warns that billions in federal funds could be in jeopardy if the Port Authority is found to have violated federal anti-discrimination laws and executive orders issued by President Donald Trump since his return to the White House in January.

“The Port Authority is going to collect and spend over $9 billion this year,” said AFL senior counsel Andrew Block. “It is responsible for overseeing one of the busiest travel hubs in the world: New York City, including six airports, four bridges, and four seaports, three rail yards, two tunnels into Manhattan, and the World Trade Center.

“But instead of focusing on delivering the most efficient movement of goods and people through its facilities, the Port Authority is more concerned with its ‘Equity’ initiatives,” Block continued. “Every extra dollar the Port Authority spends on discriminatory initiatives is a tax it passes on to travelers, ratepayers, and consumers who purchase goods that pass through New York.”

The complaint, filed with the civil rights offices at the Department of Transportation, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the White House Office of Management and Budget, alleges that Port Authority rules guarantee “minority-owned business enterprises” (MBEs) 20% of contracts. It further claims that these vendors are granted a “price preference” even when “their price exceeds the lowest bid by up to 10[%].”

“This means that for every million dollars on a contract bid, the Port Authority will pay up to an extra $100,000 to engage in race-based discrimination,” the complaint argues. “In addition to being wasteful of taxpayer and ratepayer resources, it is illegal and simply un-American.”

The AFL filing also takes aim at the agency’s “Diversity Management” portal, which certifies MBEs and connects them with vendors. The complaint says the system is “available, or not available, to businesses based on nothing other than the skin color or sex of the business owner.”

Jose Febrillet, the Port Authority’s chief diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) officer, defended such programs in a September 2024 interview, saying: “We have a collective commitment to equity at all levels, and that’s key to moving in the right direction together.”

Other officials, including Aviation Director Sarah McKeon and PATH rail system chief Clarelle DeGraffe, have also highlighted efforts to expand “representation” from minority groups and promote “talented [b]lack professionals” into leadership roles.

Those positions reflect the agency’s 2021 “comprehensive Diversity Recruitment Strategy.” But in its complaint, AFL argued that such policies amount to “operating a DEI program for nearly sixty years.”

“Simply put, race is being used to create an uneven playing field,” Block wrote. “This type of ethnic favoritism is anti-American and was outlawed by the Civil Rights Act of 1964.”

The Port Authority received $451 million in EPA funding in 2024 under its “Clean Ports Program” and has collected more than $3.6 billion from the DOT since 2008. AFL contends that the PA’s practices put those funds at risk, potentially undermining the “safety, efficiency, and improvement” of critical infrastructure.

Each year, the Port Authority oversees more than $200 billion in goods and 195 million travelers through facilities that include Bayonne, Newark, Staten Island, Elizabeth, JFK, LaGuardia, Newark Liberty, Stewart, Teterboro, and Atlantic City airports.

President Trump has issued executive orders eliminating DEI mandates and restoring merit-based hiring standards.