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Press Release:

Attor­ney Gen­er­al Tong Sues Trump Admin­is­tra­tion Over Ille­gal Con­di­tions on VOCA Grants

Preceding Event:

The Vic­tims of Crime Act (VOCA), enact­ed near­ly 40 years ago, cre­at­ed grant pro­grams to give states fund­ing so that they could pro­vide vic­tims of crime with resources and ser­vices. Accord­ing to the law­suit, “the Office for Vic­tims of Crime, an agency housed with­in the U.S. Depart­ment of Jus­tice that is charged with admin­is­ter­ing VOCA grants, has now declared that States will be unable to access VOCA funds unless they accede to the Exec­u­tive Branch’s immi­gra­tion enforce­ment pri­or­i­ties. This new pol­i­cy would impose unprece­dent­ed con­di­tions on the use of VOCA funds, requir­ing States to assist the U.S. Depart­ment of Home­land Secu­ri­ty in unre­lat­ed immi­gra­tion enforce­ment efforts.”

General Overview:

Accord­ing to the press release from Aug. 18, 2025, “Attor­ney Gen­er­al William Tong today announced he has joined a coali­tion of 21 attor­neys gen­er­al suing the Trump Admin­is­tra­tion over the ille­gal impo­si­tion of con­di­tions on Con­gres­sion­al­ly-autho­rized Vic­tims of Crime Act grants…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, Attor­ney Gen­er­al Tong and the coali­tion are request­ing that the Court per­ma­nent­ly enjoin the Trump Admin­is­tra­tion from imple­ment­ing or enforc­ing these ille­gal con­di­tions.”

Connecticut Nexus:

“Trump’s actions threat­en $14.5 mil­lion in fund­ing to Con­necti­cut alone,” accord­ing to the press release.

Date of filing:

Aug. 8, 2025

Case #:

1:25-cv-00404

Case title:

State of New Jer­sey et al v. Unit­ed States Depart­ment of Jus­tice et al

Plaintiffs: 21 states

• STATE OF NEW JERSEY;
• STATE OF RHODE ISLAND;
• STATE OF CALIFORNIA;
• STATE OF DELAWARE;
• STATE OF ILLINOIS;
• STATE OF COLORADO;
• STATE OF CONNECTICUT;
• DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA;
• STATE OF HAWAI‘I;
• STATE OF MAINE;
• STATE OF MARYLAND;
• COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS;
• STATE OF MICHIGAN;
• STATE OF MINNESOTA;
• STATE OF NEVADA;
• STATE OF NEW MEXICO;
• STATE OF NEW YORK;
• STATE OF OREGON;
• STATE OF VERMONT;
• STATE OF WASHINGTON;
• STATE OF WISCONSIN

Defendants:

• UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE;
• PAMELA J. BONDI, in her offi­cial capac­i­ty as Attor­ney Gen­er­al of the Unit­ed States;
• OFFICE OF JUSTICE PROGRAMS;
• MAUREEN HENNEBERG, in her offi­cial capac­i­ty as Act­ing Assis­tant Attor­ney Gen­er­al for the Office of Jus­tice Pro­grams;
• OFFICE FOR VICTIMS OF CRIME;
• KATHERINE DARKE SCHMITT, in her offi­cial capac­i­ty as Act­ing Direc­tor of the Office for Vic­tims of Crime,

Court:

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF RHODE ISLAND

Status as of Dec. 1, 2025:

OPEN
Last fil­ing: Nov. 12, 2025

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