Attorney General Bonta Sues U.S. DOJ Over Unlawful Immigration Enforcement Conditions on Grant Funding for Victims of Crime

OAKLAND — California Attorney General Rob Bonta today joined a coalition of 21 attorneys general in filing a lawsuit challenging the Trump Administration’s efforts to unlawfully impose immigration enforcement requirements on over $1 billion dollars in annual U.S. Department of Justice (U.S. DOJ) Victims of Crime Act (VOCA) grants. These grants are unrelated to federal civil immigration enforcement and are used by states to protect public safety and provide critical resources and services to victims and survivors of crime, including victims of domestic violence. Each year, states across the nation use these funds to assist nearly 10 million victims. For fiscal year 2025, California is expected to receive over $165 million in grant funds. In the lawsuit filed today in the U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island, Attorney General Bonta and the coalition argue that imposing this new set of conditions across VOCA grant programs is arbitrary and capricious, exceeds U.S. DOJ’s legal authority, and violates the Spending Clause. 

“Yet again, the Trump Administration is attempting to bully states into participating in their inhumane and frenzied immigration agenda. This time, the President is holding hostage over a billion dollars in grants that states use to ensure victims and survivors of crime can access emergency shelter, sexual assault forensic exams, counseling, and other essential services to help reclaim their lives after tragedy,” said Attorney General Bonta. “These actions are not only morally wrong — they are also illegal. Only Congress has the power of the purse and the power to condition these funds. This brazen attempt to use funding that supports our most vulnerable residents to strong-arm California and states nationwide into doing the federal government’s job for it, is blatantly beyond the power of the President. We’ll see him in court.” 

BACKGROUND

Since 1984, Congress has mandated the distribution of nearly all VOCA funds to states based on fixed statutory formulas — meaning each state is entitled to a specific amount of funding based on the applicable formula. For fiscal year 2025, over $178 million from the Crime Victims Fund is available to be awarded to states under the Victim Compensation Formula Grant, and over $1.2 billion is available to be awarded to states under the Victim Assistance Formula Grant.

Yet in July 2025, the Office of Victims for Crime (OVC), an agency housed within U.S. DOJ and charged with administering VOCA grants, declared that states will be unable to access VOCA funds unless they agree to broadly support and assist the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s federal immigration enforcement activities. 

VOCA GRANTS IN CALIFORNIA

VOCA grants ensure that states can fulfill their duty to protect public safety and redress harm to survivors and victims of crime. States have long relied on a steady stream of federal funding for critical victim services — covering everything from medical and dental expenses, funeral expenses, crime-scene cleanup, sexual assault forensic exams, victim and witness advocacy services, individual counseling, and emergency shelter, among other forms of compensation and assistance provided to victims and survivors at a time of severe distress and trauma in their lives. Lapses in VOCA grant funding, even if temporary, would result in the sudden and massive disruption of state victim services programs that have historically been supported by U.S. DOJ grant funds. 

In California, federal VOCA funds and associated state funds, have been used to support various victim assistance efforts across 35 programs, including through: 

• The California Department of Justice's Victims’ Services Unit (VSU), which provides victim-centered and trauma-informed responses and services to all victims, survivors, and their families. When Californians experience victimization — including sexual assault, robbery, a hate crime, or domestic violence — VSU provides services, supports, and referrals to connect people with resources and services that meet their needs. In fiscal year 2023-24, VSU provided services to 1,285 individuals.
• Victim Witness Assistance Centers at district attorney’s offices in each of California’s 58 counties that provide comprehensive services including crisis intervention support, emergency assistance, court escorts, and direct counseling to victims and witnesses of violent crime. In fiscal year 2023-24, Victim Witness Assistance Centers provided services to over 279,000 individuals.
• The Domestic Violence Assistance Program, which provides funding to 98 non-government organizations throughout California to provide comprehensive support, including emergency shelter, food, and clothing to victims of domestic violence and their children. This program also provides support and establishment of domestic violence services to unserved and underserved populations, including rural areas and geographic areas with limited access to services. In fiscal year 2023-24, subgrantees of the Domestic Violence Assistance Program served 118,695 individuals. 

PUBLIC SAFETY AND IMMIGRATION ENFORCEMENT   

Moreso, the Trump Administration’s illegal imposition of immigration enforcement conditions on VOCA grants leaves states in the untenable position of choosing between forfeiting crucial federal funding by refusing to comply with the unlawful conditions or surrendering control of their law enforcement agencies by complying with these conditions placed on grants. States including California have long concluded that the best way to protect public safety within their borders is to draw clear lines between federal civil immigration enforcement and state and local criminal law enforcement — ensuring that victims and witnesses to a crime will come forward to law enforcement agencies without fear of deportation. The California Values Act (SB 54) ensures that limited state and local resources are focused on public safety, not immigration enforcement, and promotes vital community trust in local law enforcement.

In May, Attorney General Bonta filed two lawsuits challenging the Trump Administration’s effort to unlawfully impose immigration enforcement requirements on billions of dollars in annual U.S. Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Department of Transportation grants. These grants are also unrelated to federal civil immigration enforcement.

In filing this lawsuit, Attorney General Bonta joins the attorneys general of New Jersey, Rhode Island, Delaware, Illinois, Colorado, Connecticut, Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Vermont, Washington, Wisconsin, and the District of Columbia. 

A copy of the complaint can be found here.