California takes Trump to court again, fighting threats to tie funding to immigration enforcement

Firefighters work from a deck as the Palisades fire burns a beachfront property on Jan in Malibu Calamity relief funding which typically flows into states following a wildfire are at the heart of another lawsuit against the Trump administration Photo by Etienne Laurent Associated Press A coalition of state Democratic attorneys general filed two new federal lawsuits on Tuesday this time in the fight to preserve access to transportation and calamity relief funding The states including California claim that the Trump administration is threatening to withhold billions of dollars in funding unless states agree to immigration enforcement actions According to the complaints both Secretary of Homeland Safeguard Kristi Noem and Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy have threatened to cut off funding to states that refuse to comply with President Donald Trump s immigration agenda While no federal funding is at the moment being withheld California Attorney General Rob Bonta mentioned during a news conference on Tuesday that the threat was imminent President Donald Trump can t use these funds as a bargaining chip as his way of ensuring states abide by his preferred policies Bonta added Department of Assistant Secretary of Homeland Safeguard Tricia McLaughlin disclosed in a report that the lawsuit will not stop the Trump Administration from restoring the rule of law Cities and states who break the law and prevent us from arresting criminal illegal aliens should not receive federal funding The President has been clear on that she reported The Department of Transportation has yet to reply to an email seeking comment Both lawsuits say that the Trump administration is violating the U S Constitution by trying to dictate federal spending when Congress has that power not the executive branch On April states received letters from the Department of Transportation stating that they must cooperate on immigration efforts and eliminate diversity equity and inclusion programs or liability losing funds New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin criticized the timing of Duffy s letter when Newark s airport struggles with radar outages and other issues I wish the administration would stop playing politics with people s lives Platkin reported I wish Secretary Duffy would do his damn job which is to make sure planes land on time not to direct immigration enforcement Meanwhile on Feb states received letters from the Department of Homeland Assurance declaring that states that refuse to cooperate with refuse to share information with or even actively obstruct federal immigration enforcement reject these ideals and the history we share in common as Americans If any regime entity chooses to thumb its nose at the Department of Homeland Precaution s national measure and citizens safety mission it should not receive a single dollar of the Department s money unless Congress has specifically required it Noem wrote in her letter Aside from California attorneys general behind the lawsuits come from the following states Colorado Connecticut Delaware Hawaii Illinois Maine Massachusetts Michigan Minnesota Nevada New Jersey New Mexico New York Oregon Rhode Island Washington Wisconsin and Vermont The cases are being spearheaded by California but were filed in federal court in Rhode Island a detail that the attorneys general defended by saying they filed in any court that is going to be fair and objective and consider our factual presentation and legal analysis The lawsuits are the latest legal actions that Democratic-led states have taken against Trump since he took office earlier this year Bonta noted that California has filed more than lawsuits against the administration Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha reported his state has launched more than a dozen While the lawsuits have challenged a variety of Trump policies including those that govern tariffs federal employee firings diversity and fitness care research the administration s focus on immigration enforcement and mass deportations have received the most of attention Those stances include the president s promise on mass deportations to starting a registry for all those who are in the country illegally What we re seeing is a creeping authoritarianism Neronha declared