Judge Blocks Trump's Tying of Transportation Funds to Immigration Enforcement

New York Times

20-06-2025

A federal judge has temporarily blocked the U.S. Department of Transportation from withholding billions of dollars in funding to states unless they complied with the Trump administration's demands on immigration enforcement.
A coalition of 20 states, most led by Democrats, filed a lawsuit last month arguing that the administration was usurping Congress's authority over spending and using that power of the purse to to force states to adopt its policies.
Judge John J. McConnell Jr., the chief judge of the United States District Court for Rhode Island, agreed with the states. In a preliminary injunction issued Thursday, the judge said that their claims 'are likely to succeed because the Defendants' actions here violate the Constitution and statutes of the United States.'
He also said that the states 'face losing billions of dollars in federal funding, are being put in a position of relinquishing their sovereign right to decide how to use their own police officers, are at risk of losing the trust built between local law enforcement and immigrant communities, and will have to scale back, reconsider, or cancel ongoing transportation projects.'
Rob Bonta, the attorney general of California, who is spearheading the litigation, said in a statement that President Trump was acting in an 'immoral — and more importantly, illegal' way by treating crucial funding as a 'bargaining chip.'
'I'm glad to see the District Court agrees,' he added, 'while we continue to make our case in court.'
In a statement posted on X, Sean Duffy, the secretary of transportation, said: 'I directed states who want federal DOT money to comply with federal immigration laws. But, no surprise, an Obama-appointed judge has ruled that states can openly defy our federal immigration laws. This is judicial activism pure and simple and I will continue to fight in the courts.'
Immigration law is enacted by Congress and enforced by the federal government. States rebuffing the Trump administration have said that they are limiting state or local cooperation with federal agents enforcing those laws.
The lawsuit over transportation funding is one of several that states have filed seeking to block, or at least slow down, the Trump administration's initiatives on everything from emergency preparedness to diversity programs in public schools. Other areas include tariffs and mass firings at agencies such as the Education and Health and Human Services Departments.
California, Illinois, New Jersey, Rhode Island and Maryland are leading the transportation lawsuit. Joining them are Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Vermont, Washington and Wisconsin.
All of the states have Democratic attorneys general and governors, except for Nevada and Vermont, which have Republican governors.