Office of the
Illinois Attorney General
Kwame Raoul

$54 Million in Federal Funding Allocated to Illinois Subject to Trump Administration’s Unlawful Conditions

Chicago – Attorney General Kwame Raoul and the attorneys general of California, Delaware, New Jersey and Rhode Island co-led a multistate lawsuit today challenging illegal conditions the Trump administration is imposing on Congressionally-authorized Victims of Crime Act grants.

Raoul and the coalition of 20 other attorneys general filed the lawsuit today targeting the Trump administration’s recent decision declaring that states will be unable to access funds used to support victims and survivors of crimes unless they agree to support the administration’s extreme immigration enforcement efforts. The lawsuit argues the administration is disregarding the letter of the law and intent of Congress with their decision.

“Providing support to survivors of violent crime is some of the most important work my office does, and it is work I have prioritized since becoming Illinois Attorney General. The Trump administration’s imposition of illegal conditions on this funding is not only unlawful; it is immoral and it undermines public safety,” Raoul said. “These funds have no relationship to civil immigration policy, and I will continue to lead the effort, along with other attorneys general, to fight back against the illegal policies and cruelty that have been the hallmark of this administration.”

The Victims of Crime Act (VOCA) was enacted in 1984 by President Ronald Reagan, creating a series of grant programs to enable states to provide critical resources and services to victims and survivors of crime as they try to restore normalcy in their lives. The funding supports victim and witness advocacy services, emergency shelter, medical, funeral and burial expenses, crime scene cleanup, sexual assault forensic exams and more. The funding streams for these services – totaling more than a billion dollars a year nationwide – have long ensured that states could fulfill their most fundamental duties to protect public safety and redress harm to their residents.

States, including Illinois, use these funds to assist nearly 9 million crime victims per year and to provide compensation for more than 200,000 victims’ claims per year. Congress has required the distribution of nearly all VOCA funding to states based on fixed statutory formulas and has repeatedly acted to ensure sufficient funding for crime victims, including after the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

However, the Trump administration, through the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), has declared that states, along with the victims and survivors they serve, will be blocked from these funds unless they comply with the administration’s political agenda, namely its immigration enforcement priorities. The DOJ has placed these conditions on $54 million of fiscal year 2025 funds allocated to Illinois to support crime victims.

In order to receive these funds, the Trump administration is requiring states to assist the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) with civil immigration enforcement efforts, which is a federal – not state government – responsibility.

Raoul and the coalition argue that this directive conflicts with core principles of American governance, which are the separation of powers and federalism. Congress did not authorize the DOJ to impose conditions on these grant programs that coerce states to devote their resources to enacting the Trump administration’s cruel immigration agenda. As such, Raoul and the coalition are requesting that the court permanently enjoin the Trump administration from implementing or enforcing these illegal conditions.

Joining Raoul and the lead states in filing the lawsuit are the attorneys general of Colorado, Connecticut, the District of Columbia, Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Vermont, Washington and Wisconsin.