New Jersey once again led a multi-state coalition into court against the Trump administration on Monday, this time fighting new restrictions on grants dedicated to supporting victims of crime.
Attorney General Matt Platkin said the Trump administration is unlawfully conditioning the release of those grants on states’ cooperation with immigration officials and is one of 21 attorneys general suing over the move. States use the funds to provide compensation for more than 200,000 victims’ claims each year, according to the Attorney General’s Office.
“[The Trump administration’s] brazen attempt to manipulate critical funding for crime victims to strong-arm States into supporting the Administration’s immigration policies runs headlong into two basic principles of American governance: separation of powers and federalism,” the lawsuit states.
President Ronald Reagan signed the Victims of Crime Act in 1984. The legislation helps victims of crime recoup the costs of victimhood, including counseling services and medical bill coverage. Congress has appropriated funding to support the act’s provisions since it was passed.
In a Monday afternoon press conference with several other attorneys general, Platkin said the states received no warning before the Trump administration’s decision.
“One of the things we’re challenging in this suit is the fact that they didn’t even bother to ask us, or ask any state, or any victim, or any service agency, how these cuts would impact them,” Platkin said. “Again, this is the first time in the history of these grants that anyone has threatened to withhold them on any basis, let alone an unlawful one.”
In the press conference, the attorneys general said they’re seeking a declaratory judgment against the Trump administration in the case. The Trump administration has repeatedly sought to withhold federal funds from states that do not cooperate with the Trump administration’s mass deportation efforts.
“They’re putting public safety and survivors of crime at risk, and they’re holding over $1 billion of federal funding hostage to strong-arm states into joining their inhumane and frenzied immigration agenda,” California Attorney General Rob Bonta said. “We won’t be bullied or manipulated by the Trump administration. The Victims of Crime Act has absolutely nothing to do with immigration enforcement, nor should it.”
The lawsuit is New Jersey’s 33rd against the Trump administration since his January inauguration, Platkin said.
