20 states sued Trump administration over linking funding to immigration enforcement

Odaily News Twenty Democratic-led states filed two lawsuits on Tuesday seeking to stop the Trump administration from forcing states to cooperate with immigration enforcement or withhold billions of dollars in funding for transportation construction, counterterrorism and emergency preparedness. The states said in a complaint filed in federal court in Rhode Island that the U.S. Department of Transportation and the Department of Homeland Security are illegally using federal funds to coerce states into complying with Trumps hard-line immigration policies. California Democratic Attorney General Rob Bonta, who led the lawsuit, condemned Trumps blatantly illegal threats to states that if they dont use local resources to support immigration enforcement, federal funds for road improvements and emergency preparedness will be revoked. He is using these funds, which have nothing to do with immigration enforcement but are related to community safety, as political bargaining chips, Bonta said in a statement. The states accused the federal government of unconstitutionally usurping Congresss fiscal spending power by attaching immigration enforcement conditions to grants.