New Jersey has joined a coalition of states in filing suit against the Trump administration for withholding funds meant for crime victims and surviving families.
The president's administration has imposed what a coalition of 21 attorneys general claim are illegal conditions on Victims of Crime Act grants authorized by Congress.
The Trump administration, disregarding the clear letter of the law and intent of Congress, has declared that states will be unable to access these funds – used to support victims and survivors of crimes – unless they accede to the Trump administration’s extreme immigration priorities, according to a release from the state Attorney General's Office.
Matthew Platkin has joined with California Attorney General Rob Bonta, Delaware Attorney General Kathy Jennings, Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul and Rhode Island Attorney General Peter F. Neronha in leading 16 other attorneys general in the suit.
“New Jerseyans who have been victimized by serious crime are now being mistreated by their own federal government as the Trump Administration attempts to block funding for advocacy services, sexual assault forensic exams, medical and funeral expenses, and other critical resources in their time of need,” Platkin said. “Playing politics with the lives of people who have suffered so greatly is reckless, it is cruel, and in this case – it is illegal. We are filing suit today to stand up for our residents, and for the law, which prevents these unlawful conditions on Congressionally-authorized funding. We look forward to blocking these conditions and preventing further harms to crime victims.”
The Victims of Crime Act was enacted in 1984 by President Ronald Reagan, creating a series of grant programs to enable states to provide critical resources and services to victims and survivors of crime as they try to restore normalcy in their lives: victim and witness advocacy services, emergency shelter, medical, funeral, and burial expenses, crime scene cleanup, sexual assault forensic exams, and much more.
These funding streams — totaling more than a billion dollars a year nationwide — have long ensured that states could fulfill their most fundamental duties: to protect public safety and redress harm to their residents, the release stated. States use these funds to assist nearly 9 million crime victims per year and to provide compensation for more than 200,000 victims’ claims per year. Congress has required the distribution of nearly all grant funding to states based on fixed statutory formulas and has repeatedly acted to ensure sufficient funding for crime victims, including after the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
However, the Trump administration, through the U.S. Department of Justice, has declared that states, along with the victims and survivors they serve, will be blocked from these funds unless they comply with the administration’s immigration enforcement priorities.
In order to receive these funds, states must assist the U.S. Department of Homeland Security with civil immigration enforcement efforts, which the involved attorneys general insist is a federal responsibility, not for the states.
This directive conflicts with core principles of American governance – the separation of powers, and federalism, they argue. Congress did not authorize USDOJ to impose conditions on these grant programs that coerce states to devote their resources to enacting the Administration’s immigration agenda.
Platkin and the coalition are requesting that the court permanently enjoin the Trump administration from implementing or enforcing these illegal conditions.
The other states involved are: Colorado, Connecticut, Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Vermont, Washington and Wisconsin, along with the District of Columbia.
