By Nate Raymond
(Reuters) -A coalition of 20 Democratic-led states filed two lawsuits on Tuesday seeking to block President Donald Trump’s administration from forcing them to cooperate with immigration enforcement in order to receive billions of dollars in transportation, counter-terrorism and emergency preparedness grant funding.
The states in a pair of lawsuits filed in federal court in Rhode Island argue that the U.S. Department of Transportation and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security are unlawfully using federal funds to coerce them into adhering to the Republican president’s hardline immigration agenda.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta, a Democrat who is leading the litigation, called the move a “blatantly illegal” threat by Trump to yank funds used to improve roads and prepare for emergencies if states do not use their resources to support immigration enforcement.
“He’s treating these funds, which have nothing to do with immigration enforcement and everything to do with the safety of our communities, as a bargaining chip,” Bonta said in a statement.
The states argue the administration, by imposing immigration-enforcement conditions on grant funding, is unconstitutionally seizing Congress’ power over spending.
Homeland Security Department spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin in a statement said states that prevent it from carrying out immigration arrests should not receive federal funding. “Radical sanctuary politicians need to put the safety of the American people first—not criminal illegal aliens,” she said.
The Transportation Department did not respond immediately to requests for comment.
Since returning to office on January 20, Trump has signed several executive orders that have called for cutting off federal funding to so-called sanctuary jurisdictions that do not cooperate with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Such jurisdictions generally have laws and policies that limit or prevent local law enforcement from assisting federal officers with civil immigration arrests.
A federal judge has blocked the administration from withholding funding from 16 cities and counties with such laws.
The U.S. Department of Justice under Trump has meanwhile filed lawsuits against Illinois, New York and Colorado challenging laws in those Democratic-led states that it says hinder federal immigration enforcement.
One of the lawsuits filed on Tuesday took aim at new requirements the Homeland Security Department had imposed stipulating that states must support federal civil immigration enforcement or risk losing grant funding for emergency preparedness, disaster relief and cybersecurity.
“DHS is holding states hostage by forcing them to choose between disaster preparedness and enabling the administration’s illegal and chaotic immigration agenda,” New York Attorney General Letitia James, a Democrat, said in a statement.
The second lawsuit focused on a letter U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy sent on April 24 stating that states could lose transportation funding if they fail to cooperate on immigration enforcement efforts or maintain diversity, equity and inclusion programs.
(Reporting by Nate Raymond in Boston; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)
