CHICAGO — A Chicago-based nonprofit that supports tradeswomen this week became the latest legal challenger to President Donald Trump’s executive actions targeting diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives.

Chicago Women in Trades filed a 46-page civil lawsuit Wednesday in federal court in Chicago, arguing that Trump’s anti-DEI orders have created widespread confusion and are producing a chilling effect on free speech rights.

The lawsuit, filed just weeks after a federal judge in Baltimore temporarily blocked much of Trump’s executive orders targeting DEI programs, argues that the orders threaten to eliminate Chicago Women in Trades’ ability to expand economic opportunity and mobility for women in a sector in which they are underrepresented.

“This legal action defends programs that have opened doors for women in the trades for over 40 years,” said Jayne Vellinga, executive director of Chicago Women in Trades, in a statement announcing the suit.

According to Chicago Women in Trades, about 70 percent of its participants identify as Black or Latina women. Vellinga said that despite her group’s work, women still represent just 5 percent of Illinois’ construction workforce.

“The problem of equity is far from solved, and pretending that institutional barriers don’t exist won’t make them disappear,” Vellinga said. “Our communities deserve better — they deserve programs that create real opportunities for economic mobility and strengthen our industries with skilled, diverse talent.”

A spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Chicago, which is representing the Trump administration in this suit, declined to comment on Thursday. Also named as defendants in the lawsuit are the Departments of Labor and Justice, the Office of Management of Budget and those departments’ respective leaders.

Chicago Women in Trades receives federal funding through five federal programs it says are directly affected by what it called the Trump administration’s “anti-diversity” executive orders — among the first executive actions signed by the president in his first days in office.

The lawsuit argues that Trump’s orders did not provide guidance or clarity to Chicago Women in Trades as to what constitutes prohibited DEI-related activities, which it said has “created significant confusion and caused harm to federal contractors and grantees” such as the nonprofit.

“This indeterminacy places CWIT in fear of loss of federal funding, and potential monetary penalties, if it promotes ‘equitable’ treatment of anyone under the law — even if that means nothing more than advocating for objectively fair treatment, equal opportunity, or compliance with federal civil rights law,” the lawsuit reads.

According to the complaint, Trump’s orders “have had a significant chilling effect” on Chicago Women in Trades’ First Amendment rights and the “diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts it promotes in the skilled trades industry.”

Chicago Women in Trades said it has had to spend “hundreds of hours” overhauling its existing budget to devise an emergency budget in case it loses federal funding. That would require it to repurpose private funding, cut programs and possibly furlough or lay off employees.

The lawsuit further alleges that the nonprofit abruptly lost a partnership that was in the works with an organization in the Southwest after the executive orders were issued because one group did not want to be associated with Chicago Women in Trades.

The lawsuit cites emails sent to Chicago Women in Trades by leaders of the Department of Labor in the days following Trump’s late-January orders. According to the complaint, the federal officials instructed that all recipients of federal money cease all activities related to DEI under their federal awards, consistent with the executive orders. But the nonprofit said that it did not — and still does not — know how or whether that directive applies to the work it does under its federal grants.

U.S. District Judge Matthew Kennelly is overseeing the case. The lawsuit is asking Kennelly to declare sections of Trump’s orders unlawful and unconstitutional, while granting injunctions that would stop their future enforcement.

Trump issued multiple executive orders in his first few days in office that targeted DEI efforts — both in the federal sector and across non-federal public and private sector entities. Earlier this month, a federal judge in Baltimore largely blocked Trump’s executive orders targeting DEI programs, according to the Associated Press.

The AP reported that the judge granted a preliminary injunction blocking the administration from terminating or changing federal contracts that they consider equity-related. The judge also found that the orders likely violate the Constitution, including free speech rights.

According to an analysis this week by the Brookings Institution, Trump wields a significant amount of control over the federal workforce but “the determination of whether any DEI practice is ‘illegal’ or ‘unlawful’ or whether and how LGBTQIA individuals enjoy broad protections against discrimination under federal civil rights law remains in the hands of federal courts — not President Trump.”

Chicago Women in Trades is being represented by a team of civil rights lawyers from the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. It is also receiving pro-bono counsel from Crowell & Moring LLP, along with the National Women’s Law Center, LatinoJustice PRLDEF and Chicago Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights.

“These executive orders attacking diversity and equity are not only unconstitutional, they are un-American,” said Aneel Chablani, vice president and legal director with Chicago Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights, in a statement this week. “What makes this country great is the diversity of its people and the unique perspectives they bring to enrich our democratic institutions and workplaces. These executive orders propagate a false historical narrative in an attempt to roll back hard-fought civil rights protections and we are proud to stand with our partners in challenging them.”