On August 18, 2025, attorneys general from 20 states and the District of Columbia sued the Trump Administration for tying the states' receipt of crime victim funds to their assistance in the Administration's immigration enforcement program. The lawsuit, filed in the United States District Court for the District of Rhode Island, challenges recently imposed conditions on the states' receipt of funds under grant programs established by the Victims of Crime Act, passed by Congress in 1984 to provide direct compensation and service programs to assist victims of crime.
The suit attacks conditions recently placed upon states' receipt of funds by the Office for Victims of Crime (OVC), an agency housed within the United States Department of Justice. In late July 2025, OVC issued notices to grant recipients specifying new immigration-related conditions on issuance of funding for FY 2025, including cooperation with, and assistance to, the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in its immigration enforcement efforts.
The states claim that these conditions are unlawful for a variety of reasons, including that they violate the separation of powers, the Spending Clause, the Administrative Procedure Act, and principles of federalism. They claim that the conditions put the states in an untenable position: "either forfeit access to critical resources for vulnerable crime victims and their families, or accept unlawful conditions, allowing the federal government to conscript state and local officials to enforce federal immigration law and destroying trust between law enforcement and immigrant communities that is critical to preventing and responding to crime." Complaint, at 4. The states seek an injunction against implementation of the conditions against them.
The lawsuit echoes the claims made in another suit by a group of 20 state attorneys general challenging similar immigration-related conditions on the state's receipt of transportation grants.
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