The federal government’s efforts to directly link federal funding to support crime victims to state cooperation with federal immigration enforcement is “illegal” and could hurt scores of crime victims’ ability to access much needed services, New York Attorney General Letitia James said Monday when announcing a new lawsuit filed by New York and 20 other states against the U.S. Department of Justice.
The lawsuit filed Monday in U.S. District Court in Rhode Island, seeks to stop the Justice Department from requiring states to cooperate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to continue to receive the funding. New York State is considered one of several so-called “sanctuary” jurisdictions because of its policies limiting cooperation with ICE.
New York State could lose more than $212 million in federal funding for crime victims that funds rape kits, counseling and funeral and burial costs.
“The federal government is attempting to use crime victim funds as a bargaining chip to force states into doing its bidding on immigration enforcement,” James said in a statement. “These grants were created to help survivors heal and recover, and we will fight to ensure they continue to serve that purpose. New Yorkers deserve a justice system that puts their safety first. We will not be bullied into abandoning any of our residents.”
In a news release announcing the lawsuit, James said the Department of Justice is “forcing states to choose between abandoning public safety policies that protect all New Yorkers — and forfeiting the lifesaving funding that millions of victims rely on,” in reference to $1.4 billion in Victims of Crime Act (VOCA) funds that are dispersed annually to the states.
The lawsuit called the justice department’s recent attempt to link states’ cooperation with ICE to the funding a “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 said.
A department spokesperson could not immediately be reached for comment.
Nicole Fuller is Newsday’s senior criminal justice reporter. She began working at Newsday in 2012 and previously covered local government.