Twenty states and Washington, DC, sued the Trump administration on Monday, alleging that it’s improperly withholding tons of of tens of millions of {dollars} meant to assist victims of crimes in order to force states into cooperating with federal immigration enforcement efforts.
The states, all of which have Democratic attorneys basic, are asking federal decide to strike down the situations the Justice Department has established to obtain the grant money, that are used to assist crime victims with issues like medical payments, funeral prices, counseling, emergency shelter, disaster hotlines and authorized help.
If the threats got here to fruition, the states allege, states could be pressured to select between absolutely cooperating with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, or having to reduce or shut down these applications.
“This brazen attempt to use funding that supports our most vulnerable residents to strong-arm California and states nationwide into doing the federal government’s job for it, is blatantly beyond the power of the president,” California Attorney General Rob Bonda mentioned in an announcement.
The demand is the newest in a sequence of battles between the administration and particular person states over Trump’s hardline immigration crackdown.
Trump and his Justice Department have prioritized their work to expel migrants who’re right here illegally and to dismantle state and local-level protections, usually referred to as sanctuary insurance policies.
Attorney General Pam Bondi revealed an inventory of locations which have sanctuary insurance policies, which incorporates 12 states and Washington, DC, 4 counties, and 18 cities. The division has additionally filed a number of lawsuits towards sanctuary jurisdictions in an effort to push them into complying with immigration enforcement, together with fits towards Illinois and New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles.