“The federal government is attempting to use crime victim funds as a bargaining chip to force states into doing its bidding on immigration enforcement,” New York State Attroney General Letitia James said. “These grants were created to help survivors heal and recover, and we will fight to ensure they continue to serve that purpose.”
Attorneys general from 20 states have filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Justice, claiming that the Trump administration is trying to use funds earmarked for crime victims as leverage against his political opponents.
According to PBS, the lawsuit was filed Monday in a Rhode Island-based federal court.
In the lawsuit, attorneys general from 20 states, as well as the District of Columbia, asked the court to issue an order prohibiting the Department of Justice from cutting funding to states if they refuse to cooperate with certain elements of federal immigration policy.
Under the Justice Department’s new rule, the Trump administration reserves the right to withhold funding from states that do not honor immigration detainers, block Immigration and Enforcement agents from entering state-operated facilities, or fail to provide notice of release dates for suspected undocumented immigrants.
These conditions, the attorneys general allege, exceed the scope of the administration’s authority and attempt to establish funding requirements that are neither permitted nor provided for in the Victims of Crime Act, or VOCA.
In a video-streamed press conference, New Jersey Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin said that providing limited protection to undocumented immigrants ensures that eyewitnesses and crime victims can step forward without fear of deportation.
“These people did not ask for this status as a crime victim. They don’t breakdown neatly across partisan lines, but they share one common trait, which is that they’ve suffered an unimaginable trauma,” Platkin said, adding that the administration’s effort to withhold assistance for crime victims would likely register as “the most heinous act” he has yet to see in politics.
New York Attorney General Letitia James, a co-plaintiff in the lawsuit and among President Donald Trump’s most outspoken critics, raised many of the same points as Platkin in her own press release.
“The federal government is attempting to use crime victim funds as a bargaining chip to force states into doing its bidding on immigration enforcement,” James said on Monday. “These grants were created to help survivors heal and recover, and we will fight to ensure they continue to serve that purpose.”
“We will not be bullied into abandoning any of our residents,” she said.
PBS notes that the Trump administration has made a far-reaching and concerted effort to slash federal funds and grants—including those that have already been awarded—to states that disagree with the White House’s most conservative and controversial positions.
In June, for instance, other states filed a lawsuit challenging new requirements for Violence Against Women Act-related grants, saying that it would withhold money from jurisdictions that promote “gender ideology” or enable diversity, gender, and inclusion programs.
U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi, for her part, indicated that the Trump administration will “continue bringing litigation against sanctuary jurisdictions and work closely with the Department of Homeland Security to eradicate these harmful policies around the country.”
Sources
20 states and D.C. sue DOJ to stop immigration conditions on funds for crime victims
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