MADISON, Wis. – Attorney General Josh Kaul today announced Wisconsin has joined a multistate coalition in challenging the Trump administration’s conditions on Congressionally-authorized Victims of Crime Act (VOCA) grants. The administration has declared that states will be blocked from accessing these funds – used to support victims and survivors of crimes – unless they assist with federal immigration enforcement.
Wisconsin could lose over $24 million in federal funding if it does not comply, threatening victim services programs across the state. Federal VOCA grant funding helps provide direct compensation to victims and helps support local advocacy, counseling, and crisis response programs.
“VOCA funding is intended to be used to help victims of crime,” said AG Kaul. “It is appalling that the Trump administration is weaponizing this funding.”
VOCA was enacted in 1984, creating grant programs that enable states to provide critical resources and services to victims and survivors of crime as they try to restore normalcy in their lives: victim and witness advocacy services, emergency shelter, medical, funeral, and burial expenses, crime scene cleanup, sexual assault forensic exams, and other essential services. These funding streams total more than $1 billion annually nationwide, helping nearly 9 million crime victims each year. These funds are distributed to states through fixed statutory formulas set by Congress.
However, the Trump administration, through the U.S. Department of Justice (USDOJ), has declared that states, along with the victims and survivors they serve, will be blocked from these funds unless they assist the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) with civil immigration enforcement efforts – a federal, not state, government responsibility.
This directive conflicts with core principles of American governance – the separation of powers, and federalism. Congress did not authorize USDOJ to impose conditions on these grant programs that coerce states to devote their resources to enacting the Administration’s immigration agenda. As such, AG Kaul and the coalition are requesting that the court permanently enjoin the Trump administration from implementing or enforcing these illegal conditions.
Joining AG Kaul in filing this lawsuit are the attorneys general of New Jersey, California, Delaware, Illinois, Rhode Island, Colorado, Connecticut, Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Vermont, Washington, and the District of Columbia.
A copy of the complaint is available here.
