(WJAR) — Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha announced he is co-leading a coalition of attorneys general in two lawsuits against the Trump administration agencies.
According to Neronha, the lawsuit claims the administration is illegally imposing immigration conditions on billions of federal funding appropriated by Congress to support emergency services and infrastructure projects.
The coalition of 20 attorneys general filed one lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security, including the Federal Emergency Management Agency and DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, officials said.
The Rhode Island Attorney General’s Office said the second lawsuit was filed against the Department of Transportation and DOT Secretary Sean Duffy.
According to officials, these agencies have imposed a condition that will require states and state agencies to assist with federal immigration enforcement efforts in order to receive federal dollars.
“By threatening to withhold these congressionally allocated funds, used for projects like fixing highways and preparing for natural disasters, the President is willing to put our collective safety at risk,” Neronha said.
The coalition claims in the lawsuit against DHS that the immigration conditions exceed the agency’s legal authority and that the conditions are unconstitutional because Congress appointed the funds.
Officials said this impacts funding that helps states prepare for, protect against, respond and recover from catastrophic disasters.
In the lawsuit against the DOT, the attorneys general say that putting an immigration enforcement condition on all federal transportation funds is beyond the agency’s authority.
“If the Administration withholds these federal funds, up to $628 million in competitive federal grant awards and hundreds of millions more in FHWA funding allocations – including funding for the Washington Bridge project – are at risk in Rhode Island,” the attorney general’s office said in a statement.
