20 states and DC sue DOJ to stop immigration requirements on victim
funds
[August 19, 2025]
By CLAUDIA LAUER and MIKE CATALINI
A coalition of attorneys general from 20 states and Washington, D.C., is
asking a federal judge to stop the U.S. Department of Justice from
withholding federal funds earmarked for crime victims if states don't
cooperate with the Trump administration's immigration enforcement
efforts.
The lawsuit filed Monday in Rhode Island federal court seeks to block
the Justice Department from enforcing conditions that would cut funding
to a state or subgrantee if it refuses to honor civil immigration
enforcement requests, denies U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement
officers access to facilities or fails to provide advance notice of
release dates of individuals possibly wanted by U.S. Immigration and
Customs Enforcement because of their immigration status.
The lawsuit asks that the conditions be thrown out, arguing that the
administration and the agency are overstepping their constitutional and
administrative authority.
The lawsuit also argues that the requirements are not permitted or
outlined in the Victims of Crime Act, known as VOCA, and would interfere
with policies created to ensure victims and witnesses report crimes
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,” New Jersey
Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin said during a video news conference
Monday, calling the administration's threat to withhold funds “the most
heinous act” he’s seen in politics.
The federal conditions were placed on VOCA funding, which provides more
than a billion dollars annually to states for victims compensation
programs and grants that fund victims assistance organizations. VOCA
funding comes entirely from fines and penalties in federal court cases,
not from tax dollars.
Every state and territory has a victims compensation program that
follows federal guidelines, but largely is set up under state law to
provide financial help to crime victims, including medical expense
reimbursement, paying for crime scene cleanup, counseling or helping
with funeral costs for homicide victims. VOCA covers the cost of about
75% of state compensation program awards.
The funds are also used to pay for other services, including testing
rape kits, funding grants to domestic violence recovery organizations,
trauma recovery centers and more.
Advocates and others argue that the system needs to protect victims
regardless of their immigration status and ensure that reporting a crime
does not lead to deportation threats. They also say that marginalized
communities, such as newly arrived immigrants, are more likely to be
crime targets.
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The Department of Justice seal is seen during a news conference at
the DOJ office in Washington, May 16, 2023. (AP Photo/Jose Luis
Magana, File)
“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 Attorney General Letitia James,
who also joined the lawsuit, said in a statement 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.”
The Associated Press left a message seeking comment from a DOJ
spokesperson Monday afternoon.
President Donald Trump’s administration has sought to withhold or
pull back other federal funding or grant funding midstream, saying
awardees and programs no longer agree with its priorities. In April,
it canceled about $800 million in DOJ grants, some of which were
awarded to victims service and survivor organizations.
And in June, states filed a lawsuit over added requirements in
Violence Against Women Act funding that mandated applicants agree
not to promote “gender ideology,” or run diversity, equity and
inclusion programs or prioritize people in the country illegally.
Several attorneys general said the VOCA conditions appear to be
another way the administration is targeting so-called sanctuary
jurisdictions that limit cooperation with federal immigration
authorities, though there is no clear definition of what a sanctuary
state or city is.
The Trump administration earlier this month released an updated list
of states, cities and counties it considers sanctuary jurisdictions.
U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi said in the August announcement that
the department would “continue bringing litigation against sanctuary
jurisdictions and work closely with the Department of Homeland
Security to eradicate these harmful policies around the country.”
As of Monday afternoon attorneys general from California, Colorado,
Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Hawaii, Illinois,
Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New
Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont,
Washington and Wisconsin — all Democrats — had signed on to the
lawsuit.
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