California Attorney General Rob Bonta is taking the Trump administration to court in hopes of blocking the planned closure of the San Francisco National Archives facility in San Bruno.
Bonta said the closure would scatter more than 175 years of historical records across the country, creating new challenges for the families, researchers and tribal communities that rely on them.
“We are here to protect generations of California history,” Bonta said Wednesday. “Records that belong to the people of this state need to remain here to be accessible to the people of this state.”
The federal government has said the San Francisco National Archives collection would be spread out among five National Archives facilities across the country and the San Bruno facility would be closed to cut costs.
Bonta argues the government failed to properly consider the impact or give the public a meaningful opportunity to weigh in.
“[The National Archives and Records Administration] did none of that,” Bonta said. “Instead, it decided unilaterally and behind closed doors to pack up our history and ship it away.”
The Trump administration did not immediately comment on the lawsuit.
NBC Bay Area’s Ali Reid has more in the video report above.