Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha and a coalition of other Democratic attorneys general filed a federal lawsuit against the Trump administration Monday, accusing the federal government of restricting access to funds allocated for victims of crime.
At issue is funding related to the Victims of Crime Act (VOCA), enacted in 1984, which created a series of grant programs by which states provide support to victims of crime. Much of the money comes from fines and penalties collected in federal cases.
The suit contends that the Trump Administration is using these grant programs to coerce states into cooperating with Trump directives on immigration enforcement. Conditions set on a recent call for grant proposals, for instance, would require states to provide access to victims with whom they are working to the Department of Homeland Security for potential immigration enforcement, the attorneys general say.
“This is about the Trump administration strong-arming states to take their precious law enforcement resources,” Neronha said at a Monday press conference, “and using those precious resources to round up people that are in the country here without documentation but are not engaged in criminal activity. That’s what the administration wants to do.”
The grants provided by the U.S. Department of Justice are used to fund local programs that provide services like sexual assault forensic exams, victim advocacy and funeral expenses.
The funding amounts to more than $1 billion nationwide. In Rhode Island, VOCA funding sent out more than $3.5 million to local sub-grantees for victim assistance services — one of the tranches of funding at issue — in the 2024 fiscal year, according to data from the U.S. Department of Justice. In Massachusetts, the funding amounted to more than $42 million.
Neronha is co-leading the lawsuit, which is supported by 20 other Democratic attorneys general, including the attorneys general of Massachusetts and Connecticut. The suit is filed in U.S. District Court in Providence.
