‘Political pawns’: Delaware, New Jersey sue Trump administration over conditioning crime victims funding on immigration cooperation

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Delaware and New Jersey are joining 18 other states and the District of Columbia in suing President Donald Trump’s administration for attaching immigration conditions to grants for victims of crime.

The lawsuit, filed in Rhode Island, asks the court to stop the Trump administration from forcing them to cooperate with immigration enforcement activities in order to receive funding for crime victims.

Congress created the Crime Victims Fund in 1984 through the Victims of Crime Act, also known as VOCA. States are able to apply for grants to use to compensate victims for out-of-pockets expenses resulting from crimes, such as medical care, mental health counseling, lost wages and funeral expenses. The Department of Justice administers the program.

Delaware Attorney General Kathy Jennings said she joined the lawsuit because she has listened to families of murder victims, domestic violence victims and sexual assault victims and wants to make sure they will continue to get needed support.

“I want every survivor in Delaware to hear me clearly,” she said during a virtual news conference with other state attorneys general Monday. “You have been through enough already. We will not let these funds be taken from you. We will not allow Washington politics to decide whether you deserve help.”

New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin said the federal government is illegally conditioning this funding on cooperating with federal immigration officials and said courts have repeatedly told the federal government in other lawsuits it cannot do that.

“This is what I think is maybe the most heinous act I’ve seen in politics: a president, an attorney general, using victims of crime, victims of violent crime, victims of domestic violence and sexual violence and gun violence as political pawns,” he said. “These people did not ask for this status as a crime victim. They don’t break down neatly across partisan lines, but they share one common trait, which is that they’ve suffered an unimaginable trauma.”

For fiscal year 2025, more than $178 million would go to states from the Crime Victims Fund under the Victim Compensation Formula Grant and over $1.2 billion would be awarded to states under the Victim Assistance Formula Grant, according to the lawsuit.

Jennings said more than $15 million in federal funding for Delaware survivors, families, shelters and service providers is currently at stake.

Community Legal Aid Society, a civil legal service provider, said in an emailed statement it believes all survivors of crime should have access to lifesaving safety net services, including an attorney, shelter, community and system-based advocacy, and support from the Victims’ Compensation Assistance program.

“Placing unlawful requirements on these programs undermines victim safety by making victims less likely to seek help, report crimes, and access the care that they need, which in turn makes our state less safe for all Delawareans,” the statement said.

New Jersey received nearly $10 million and Delaware got $834,000 in fiscal year 2024 in Victim Compensation grants. The federal government gave New Jersey $21.1 million and Delaware nearly $2.8 million in Victim Assistance grants for fiscal 2024. The grant application deadline is Wednesday.

Jennings said crime victims are never asked what their legal status is or whether they are undocumented as a condition for providing them services.

“And we don’t want to ask, because you are a victim, regardless of your status,” she said. “That’s always the way it’s been and always the way it should be.”

Delaware and New Jersey have sued the Trump administration at least 33 times during Trump’s second term, either as lead plaintiff or co-plaintiff.

This story was supported by a statehouse coverage grant from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.