In conclusion
Twenty states, including California, are suing the Trump administration over new immigration-related requirements on funds for victims of crime.
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The Trump administration’s new immigration enforcement restrictions on federal aid for crime victims were challenged in a California s39th lawsuit filed by Attorney General Rob Bonta on Monday.
California was anticipated to get $165 million of the more than $1.2 billion in federal crime victim aid that was allotted to states this year. However, in order for states to receive such monies, the U.S. Justice Department’s Office of Victims for Crime said last month that they must consent to help and support the Department of Homeland Security with federal immigration enforcement.
The possible loss of funds might be the second major blow to California programs that assist victims of crime this year from the Trump administration, as other states consider that condition to be unfeasible. The U.S. Justice Department cut $811 million in grants for victim services and violence prevention programs earlier this year. The department reduced little over $80 million in California alone.
Since this financing has nothing to do with immigration, Congress has never placed civil immigration enforcement requirements on it. At a press conference on Monday regarding the most recent complaint, Bonta declared, “This is a flagrant abuse of the president’s power.”
In the U.S. District Court for Rhode Island, California and 20 other states are suing the Trump administration over the proposed decrease. The states want the courts to stop the new rules from being implemented by the Department of Justice.
The disputed money for victims of crime covers costs like emergency shelter, medical assistance for sexual assault, lost wages compensation, and burial costs.
The lawsuit alleges that by circumventing Congress about the funding of a program it established, the Trump administration is in violation of the U.S. Constitution. Additionally, the lawsuit claims that the Trump administration broke the Administrative Procedure Act, which is the focus of the most of California’s cases against the White House. According to the statute, a federal agency must adhere to protocols and provide justification for any policy changes.
In assigning federal grant funds to assist victims, the states claim that the Department of Justice unfairly relied on immigration-related variables that Congress had not given it permission to use.
During the press conference, Peter Neronha, the attorney general of Rhode Island, stated that the new rules from the Department of Justice are contrary to his principles. He used the interview of a youngster who had been sexually assaulted at a child advocacy center as an example. “Whether that child is in this country legally or illegally is one question that should not be asked,” he stated.In 1984, President Ronald Reagan signed the Crime Act Fund. According to Monday’s complaint, the statute was created in response to a report by Reagan’s 1982 Task Force on Victims of Crime, which stated that the neglect of crime victims is a national disgrace. Enacting legislation to provide federal cash to support state crime victim compensation programs was one of the report’s recommendations.
California brought two further complaints against the Trump administration in May for linking immigration enforcement to financing for counterterrorism and transportation, which had an impact on billions of dollars in federal assistance.
One California Local News fellow is Cayla Mihalovich.
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