20 states and D.C. sue Trump administration for tying crime victim grants to immigration
Another immigration lawsuit! Twenty states and the District of Columbia have sued the Justice Department for adding a new immigration enforcement rule to federal grants that assist victims of crime. “Mostly Democratic states joined the suit . . . . Collectively, they’ve received more than $500 million a year in crime victim grants since 2021, according to the lawsuit.” California, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Delaware, Illinois, Colorado, Connecticut, Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Vermont, Washington, Wisconsin, and the District of Columbia all are parties to the lawsuit.
A copy of the complaint can be found here. California Attorney General Rob Bonta’s press release on the lawsuit is here. It states that “California Attorney General Rob Bonta today joined a coalition of 21 attorneys general in filing a lawsuit challenging the Trump Administration’s efforts to unlawfully impose immigration enforcement requirements on over $1 billion dollars in annual U.S. Department of Justice (U.S. DOJ) Victims of Crime Act (VOCA) grants. These grants are unrelated to federal civil immigration enforcement and are used by states to protect public safety and provide critical resources and services to victims and survivors of crime, including victims of domestic violence. Each year, states across the nation use these funds to assist nearly 10 million victims.”
KJ