Nevada Attorney General and Governor-elect Aaron D. Ford and a coalition of 23 states secured a legal victory blocking the federal government from imposing immigration-enforcement conditions on congressionally authorized public safety grants, including funds meant to keep law enforcement officers safe and fight crime.
District of Rhode Island Chief Judge John J. McConnell, Jr. declared the Trump administration's actions unlawful and permanently enjoined any implementation or enforcement of the conditions.
"Public safety funding is meant to protect communities, not to be used as a political bargaining chip," Ford said.
"The Trump administration unlawfully tried to force states to comply with its immigration enforcement demands by threatening critical law enforcement funding. This ruling upholds the rule of law and protects resources that help keep Nevadans safe."
The Trump administration previously declared that states would be unable to access Victims of Crime Act (VOCA) funds unless they agreed to the administration's immigration demands. The multistate coalition succeeded in getting the federal government to remove those conditions on over $1.3 billion of VOCA funds.
The U.S. Department of Justice has since applied the conditions to new grants, including funds dedicated to law enforcement and juvenile justice.
Among the affected programs is the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Formula Grants, known as the Byrne JAG Program. For decades, regardless of which political party held power, the Byrne JAG Program has been the leading federal source of criminal justice funding to state and local governments.
Civil immigration enforcement is a federal responsibility and not a state government responsibility. The administration's attempts to coerce states conflict with core principles of American governance the separation of powers and federalism. The actions violated laws passed by Congress as well as the Spending Clause of the U.S. Constitution.
Ford was joined in the lawsuit by the co-lead attorneys general of California, Delaware, New Jersey, Illinois and Rhode Island, as well as the attorneys general of Colorado, Connecticut, Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin, and the District of Columbia, as well as the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
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