The state of Maryland and Prince George’s County sued the Trump administration Thursday over its plans to keep the FBI headquarters in downtown Washington, D.C., a move that they said would “unlawfully sabotage a multiyear collaborative effort” to relocate the facility to Greenbelt.

The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for Maryland, also claims that the administration plan would “unlawfully divert funding that Congress designated” for the Greenbelt project and put it toward renovation of the Ronald Reagan Building in Washington for the FBI.

Thursday’s announcement was just the latest battle in the fight by state and county officials to bring the FBI to Greenbelt, a proposal they say was developed over more than a decade of careful study and debate — only to be reversed in a matter of weeks on an apparent whim by the president.

“We are asking the court to stop the unlawful selection of the Reagan Building, prevent the diversion of congressionally appropriated funds and ensure the federal government, the Trump administration, follows the law,” Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown said Thursday.

Brown said the reversal of the decision to locate the FBI at Greenbelt is “illegal” because Congress allocated more than $1 billion for Greenbelt, not the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center in Washington. It was not on any potential list of sites until July 1, when it was announced as the new home of the FBI.

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