PROVIDENCE – R.I. Attorney General Peter F. Neronha on Monday joined 20 other attorneys general in suing the Trump administration, accusing it of threatening $1 billion in Victims of Crime Act grants unless states back the president’s immigration policies.
The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Rhode Island, claims the Trump administration is disregarding the law and the intent of Congress by declaring that states will be unable to access VOCA funds – used to support victims and survivors of crimes – unless they agree to support the president's immigration enforcement efforts.
Neronha said he is co-leading the lawsuit with N.J. Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin, Del. Attorney General Kathy Jennings, Calif. Attorney General Rob Bonta, and Ill. Attorney General Kwame Raoul.
“When the U.S. Department of Justice is actively preventing Americans from receiving justice, we have a problem,” Neronha said in his announcement of the lawsuit Monday.
Enacted by President Ronald Regan in 1984, the Victims of Crime Act created grant programs that enabled states to provide to crime victims with advocacy services, emergency shelter, medical, funeral and burial expenses, crime scene cleanup and sexual assault forensic exams.
Neronha says the law calls for VOCA funding to be distributed to states based on fixed statutory formulas. States then distribute money to the victims.
Congress has required the distribution of nearly all VOCA funding to states based on fixed statutory formulas and has repeatedly acted to ensure sufficient funding for crime victims, including after the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
The lawsuit claims the Trump administration, through the U.S. Department of Justice, has declared that states will be blocked from these funds unless they comply with the administration’s immigration enforcement priorities.
To receive these funds, states must assist the U.S. Department of Homeland Security with civil immigration enforcement efforts – a federal government responsibility, the lawsuit says.
“Their supposed reasoning here is unfounded: Rhode Island consistently cooperates with all federal law enforcement agencies, as required by federal law," Neronha said. "What we won’t, and can’t do legally, is divert important state law enforcement resources to do the federal government’s civil immigration law bidding."
In Rhode Island, VOCA grants are a primary source of funding for victim services, according to Neronha. Most of that funding flows from two grant programs: victim compensation grants, which provide direct financial support to crime victims, and victim assistance grants.
In fiscal 2024, Rhode Island received nearly $3 million in VOCA victim assistance funds and nearly $300,000 in VOCA victim compensation funds. VOCA assistance funds were used to provide services to approximately 41,015 people through dozens of nonprofits, and 635 people received VOCA compensation payments through the State’s Crime Victim Compensation Program, Neronha’s office said.
Aside from the plaintiff co-leaders, the attorneys general from the following states have joined the lawsuit: Colorado, Connecticut, Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Vermont, Washington, Wisconsin and the District of Columbia.
