States challenge immigration cooperation requirements for grants
Source: Roll Call
Posted May 13, 2025 at 4:59pm
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.”
Read more: https://rollcall.com/2025/05/13/states-challenge-immigration-cooperation-requirements-for-grants/
Links to COMPLAINTS (PDFs)
ILLINOIS - https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/25940849/illinois-v-fema-filed-complaint.pdf
CALIFORNIA - https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/25940848/state-of-california-et-al-v-usdot-et-al-complaint.pdf