States challenge immigration cooperation requirements for grants

WASHINGTON — A coalition of 20 states filed two lawsuits against the Trump administration Tuesday seeking to stop policies to withhold grants for transportation and homeland security in jurisdictions that do not cooperate with federal immigration enforcement.

California Attorney General Rob Bonta said Tuesday during a conference call with reporters that the Trump administration directives are a “blatantly illegal attempt to bully states into enacting Trump’s inhumane and illogical immigration agenda.”

“Taking away these funds could harm California’s ability to improve our roads, keep our planes in the air, prepare for emergencies and protect against terrorist attacks,” Bonta said. “It undermines our ability to uphold the safety of our communities.”

The two separate lawsuits filed by states cite policy announcements from the U.S. government asserting that states and localities won’t be eligible for funds if they don’t comply with certain federal initiatives, including federal immigration enforcement.

One is a memo from Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy from April 24, while the other is a pair of Homeland Security Department memos from March 25 and April 18 that the states contend are “holding critical emergency preparedness and response funding hostage.”

“DHS cites no statutory authority for these new requirements. Nor could it,” the lawsuit states. “The grant statutes that Congress has passed do not permit DHS to condition all agency funds on an agreement to cooperate with civil immigration enforcement.”

Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul said the Trump administration requires the states to redirect resources from local initiatives to address policies that are the responsibility of the federal government.

“They also make us less safe,” Raoul said. “These agency actions would damage the carefully built trust between law enforcement and immigrant communities, which is critical to promoting public safety.”

All of the 20 states represented in the lawsuits are represented by Democratic attorneys general. The lawsuits were filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island.

The litigation alleges the Trump administration has overstepped its authority on both statutory and constitutional grounds, asserting the executive branch is unable to withhold the disbursement of funds appropriated by Congress and the state’s rights under the 10th Amendment.

Attorneys general on the conference call offered specific examples of the risks to funds to their states, including $35 billion for California, $2 billion in transportation funding for Illinois and $22 billion for New Jersey. Bonta said as of Tuesday he wasn’t aware of any funding being cut from California because of the Trump administration directives, but he added that they present an “imminent injury” that the federal government could act upon at any time.

The memos come at a time when the Trump administration has sought to penalize sanctuary jurisdictions, cities or other local governments that signal they won’t cooperate with federal immigration enforcement. For example, if local law enforcement officials in a sanctuary jurisdiction arrest an individual found to be an undocumented immigrant, they won’t honor a retainer to hold the person for federal officials to arrest.

Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary of Homeland Security for public affairs, said via email Tuesday that the lawsuits filed by the states were baseless.

“Cities and states who break the law and prevent us from arresting criminal illegal aliens should not receive federal funding,” McLaughlin said. “The President has been clear on that. Under Secretary Noem’s leadership, DHS is working to end violations of federal immigration law and remove criminal illegal aliens from American communities.

“Radical sanctuary politicians need to put the safety of the American people first — not criminal illegal aliens. The Trump Administration is committed to restoring the rule of law. No lawsuit, not this one or any other, is going to stop us from doing that,” McLaughlin wrote.

During the conference call, New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin denied that his state had a sanctuary policy, asserting that localities in New Jersey assist federal immigration officials with violent offenders.

“What this administration is doing ... is conflating funding streams appropriated by Congress and using them to compel states like New Jersey and Illinois and California and Rhode Island to take actions that we have deemed not to be consistent with the best interests and the safety of our residents, something we are given the power to decide under the 10th Amendment of the Constitution,” Platkin said.

Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha said during the conference call that the memos from the Trump administration are the latest in a trend of “a creeping authoritarianism in this country.”

“The president is trying to take power to himself,” Neronha said. “He is attempting to sideline the Congress, which is why we brought these two cases and many others.”