Attorney General James Sues U.S. Department of Justice to Shield Companies for Survivors of Violent Crime

NEW YORK – New York Attorney General Letitia James right now joined 20 different attorneys common in suing to dam the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) from illegally conditioning federal funding for crime victims on states’ cooperation with federal immigration enforcement efforts. The Victims of Crime Act (VOCA) gives greater than a billion {dollars} in grants to states annually to assist survivors of crime with providers similar to medical care, counseling, shelter, and compensation for misplaced wages. The funds additionally allow victims and their households to totally take part within the felony justice system within the wake of against the law. Now, DOJ is forcing states to decide on between abandoning public security insurance policies that defend all New Yorkers – together with immigrant communities – and forfeiting the lifesaving funding that tens of millions of victims depend on. Attorney General James and the coalition are asking the court docket to strike down these illegal situations and guarantee survivors and their households can proceed to entry important providers.

“The federal government is attempting to use crime victim funds as a bargaining chip to force states into doing its bidding on immigration enforcement,” mentioned Attorney General James. “These grants were created to help survivors heal and recover, and we will fight to ensure they continue to serve that purpose. New Yorkers deserve a justice system that puts their safety first. We will not be bullied into abandoning any of our residents.”

Congress enacted VOCA greater than 40 years in the past to handle the neglect of crime victims within the felony justice system. Funded totally by fines and penalties from federal felony circumstances, VOCA grants assist compensation applications and direct help for survivors, together with advocacy providers, disaster counseling, sexual assault forensic exams, funeral and burial prices, and emergency shelter. VOCA has been important in enhancing the therapy of victims of significant crimes by offering them with the help, assist, and providers needed to assist their restoration after the trauma of a felony act and to assist them navigate the justice system. States use these funds to help roughly 10 million victims annually. In 2025, almost $1.4 billion in VOCA funds can be found for states.

Under DOJ’s new immigration-related situations, VOCA funding can be reduce off to any state or subgrantee that refuses to present Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) unfettered entry to services, present advance discover of people’ launch dates, or honor all civil immigration enforcement requests. These necessities immediately battle with insurance policies that New York and plenty of different states have adopted to make sure victims and witnesses can report crimes with out worry of deportation.

Attorney General James and the coalition argue that dropping VOCA funds would devastate the community of sufferer providers applications that states have constructed over a long time. Without this funding, states can be pressured to reduce or shut down compensation applications that cowl medical payments, funeral prices, and misplaced wages for survivors, in addition to help applications that present counseling, emergency shelter, disaster hotlines, and authorized assist. The sudden lack of these assets would disrupt providers for tens of millions of survivors nationwide, leaving many with out entry to the assistance they should get better from violence and trauma, and undermining public security in communities throughout the nation.

In New York, greater than $212 million in VOCA funds are at stake. These grants assist 1000’s of victims annually by overlaying pressing wants similar to medical care and rape kits, crime scene clean-up, relocation to make sure security, funeral and burial bills, transportation to court docket, and long-term counseling. VOCA {dollars} additionally fund a statewide community of greater than 250 community-based applications – a lot of them the only supplier in rural counties – providing disaster hotlines, home violence shelters, advocates to accompany survivors to court docket, and specialised providers for youngsters, older adults, and folks with disabilities. Without this funding, applications throughout the state can be pressured to shut or flip survivors away, erasing a long time of belief constructed with immigrant and different susceptible communities and leaving numerous New Yorkers with out the assist they should heal, search justice, and rebuild their lives.

Attorney General James and the coalition argue that DOJ is presenting states with an inconceivable alternative: both forego tens of millions of {dollars} in congressionally-appropriated funds that assist a few of their most susceptible residents within the aftermath of against the law or undermine their very own public security insurance policies by diverting state and native assets to federal civil immigration enforcement. Accepting these illegal phrases, they contend, would destroy belief between immigrant communities and the authorized system, making it tough to pursue justice and absolutely defend communities from crime.

The attorneys common assert that DOJ’s try and strong-arm states into abandoning these insurance policies by manipulating important funding for victims violates elementary constitutional ideas, together with separation of powers and federalism. They argue that the situations exceed DOJ’s statutory authority underneath VOCA, undermine Congress’ energy of the purse, upset the federal-state stability, and run afoul of the Constitution’s Spending Clause and separation of powers doctrine, in addition to the Administrative Procedure Act.

Attorney General James and the coalition are asking the court docket to dam DOJ from imposing these illegal situations, vacate the immigration enforcement necessities from this 12 months’s VOCA grants, and make sure that states proceed to obtain the funds Congress meant to assist crime victims and their households.

Joining Attorney General James in submitting right now’s lawsuit are the attorneys common of California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, Wisconsin, and the District of Columbia.