WA, 19 states sue Trump for linking funding to immigration enforcement
Washington Attorney General Nick Brown joined two multistate lawsuits Tuesday suing the Trump administration for threatening to withhold billions of dollars in funding for states failing to cooperate with immigration enforcement.
Twenty Democratic attorneys general filed the lawsuits in the U.S. District Court of Rhode Island. They accuse the administration of usurping Congressional authority over spending by threatening cuts to emergency preparedness and transportation projects.
“The President is once again acting illegally, threatening federal funding cuts without authority,” Brown said in a news release. “But the Trump administration cannot retaliate against our state for protecting the rights and dignity of all residents.
California, Illinois, New Jersey and Rhode Island are leading the lawsuits. Brown has now brought or joined 19 lawsuits against the Trump administration.
One of the Tuesday lawsuits is against the U.S. Department of Transportation, the other against the Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
In response, Trump administration officials suggested Washington and other suing states are compromising public safety by protecting undocumented immigrants.
“Americans would all be better off if these Democrat attorneys general focused on prosecuting criminals and working with the Trump administration to address the toll of gangster illegal aliens on their communities instead of playing political games,” said White House spokesperson Kush Desai.
“The Trump administration is committed to restoring the rule of law,” added Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin in a separate statement. No lawsuit, not this one or any other, is going to stop us from doing that,” the statement continued.
Federal officials have not just been arresting undocumented immigrants who have committed crimes. Of those arrested who have, some have perpetrated major crimes like rape and murder while others have minor infractions on their record, such as driving without a license, Kathleen Bush-Joseph, an analyst at the nonpartisan Migration Policy Institute, said in a webinar last month. Other crimes may constitute entering or reentering the U.S. illegally.
Last year, Washington received $1.1 billion in federal transportation funding and more than $500 million in Homeland Security funding, according to Brown’s office. Together, the funding helped fight wildfires on public land, strengthen earthquake preparedness, enhance cybersecurity for cities and prepare for large events such as the 2026 World Cup in Seattle.
The lawsuits are the latest battle over the administration’s plan for mass deportations and the so-called sanctuary jurisdictions that President Donald Trump sees as getting in his way.
A 2019 Washington state law, dubbed Keep Washington Working, prohibits most local officials and agencies from cooperating with immigration enforcement, which is a federal responsibility. The 2019 law makes an exception for the Department of Corrections, which notifies immigration officials about upcoming release dates of undocumented immigrants incarcerated in state prisons. Federal agents then typically pick them up and take them to the Northwest ICE Processing Center in Tacoma, where they are held while undergoing deportation proceedings.
Washington’s policy restricts only local, not federal officials. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has been making more aggressive arrests here, as elsewhere, since President Donald Trump took office.
Seattle and King County have also sued the administration over threatened funding cuts due to immigration policies. A federal judge in California issued an injunction in April.
Meanwhile, Gov. Bob Ferguson signed a bill Tuesday issuing further protections to undocumented immigrants. Senate Bill 5104 prohibits employers from threatening to call immigration officials on undocumented workers who do not agree to subpar pay, forced overtime and working without breaks.