Democratic AGs sue DOJ to receive federal funding for victims of violent crimes
Violent crime victims and their families across the country stand to lose more than $1 billion in direct compensation and support services under federal directives that illegally condition state grants on compliance with unrelated immigration policies.
So argued 21 Democratic state attorneys general, including Rhode Island’s Peter Neronha, in a new lawsuit filed in Rhode Island federal court on Monday. The complaint seeks to stop the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi from withholding statutory federal funds under the Victims of Crime Act (VOCA) to states whose officials refuse to comply with federal civil immigration enforcement.
Rhode Island is among more than dozen states facing threats from the Trump administration for alleged “sanctuary” policies. Bondi in an Aug. 13 letter to Gov. Dan McKee demanded the state get rid of its policies that “thwart federal immigration enforcement, warning of criminal charges and yanking federal funding if state officials refuse to comply.
McKee and Neronha have previously rebuffed the “sanctuary” label, pointing to a 2014 federal judge’s ruling as the determinant of state immigration policies.
https://www.heraldnet.com/opinion/editorial-cartoons-for-tuesday-aug-19/