Trump administration again eyes withholding federal funds over WA immigration policy

OLYMPIA – Washington lawmakers so far appear unconcerned about President Trump’s latest threat to withhold federal funding from jurisdictions that restrict local cooperation with federal immigration enforcement efforts.

A memo sent by the Office of Management and Budget this week directs federal agencies, except the Department of Defense and Department of Veterans Affairs, to compile a detailed spending report on Washington and 14 other states, Politico reported Thursday.

The memo notes that the request “does not involve withholding funds” and therefore does not violate “any court order.” Instead, the White House office says it is part of a “data-gathering exercise.”

The agencies have until Monday to submit the requested data.

Washington state received more than $27 billion in federal funding between July 1, 2023, to June 30, 2024, which accounted for 32% of the state’s budget.

In a statement Thursday, Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., said President Trump “must stop trying to govern by threats and intimidation, and take action to improve Americans’ lives and address the affordability crisis.”

Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., said in a social media post on Thursday that the memo was “Yet another tired re-run of Russ Vought’s corrupt playbook,” referring to the director of the Office of Management and Budget.

“He’s threatening blue states in a naked act of political retribution. No one should be intimidated,” Murray wrote. “Vought and Trump can kick rocks. This will not stand.”

While this week’s memo does not explicitly say what the information would be used for, Trump said last week that the federal government would withhold federal funding to states and local jurisdictions that restrict cooperation with federal immigration enforcement.

“Starting Feb. 1, we’re not making any payments to sanctuary cities or states having sanctuary cities because they do everything possible to protect criminals at the expense of American citizens,” Trump said last week in a speech in Detroit. “And it breeds fraud and crime and all of the other problems that come with it.”

The Department of Justice has repeatedly labeled Washington a “sanctuary jurisdiction,” largely due to the Keep Washington Working Act.

Passed by the Legislature in 2019, the law restricts local law enforcement from using local resources to help federal officials enforce immigration law and prevents local law enforcement from sharing nonpublic information with federal officials, except in certain scenarios.

Last summer, U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi threatened criminal prosecution of state officials who use their “official positions to obstruct federal immigration enforcement efforts.”

Bondi made the threat in a letter to Gov. Bob Ferguson, Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell and dozens of other officials across the country.

“You are hereby notified that your jurisdiction has been identified as one that engages in sanctuary policies and practices that thwart federal immigration enforcement to the detriment of the interests of the United States,” Bondi wrote in August. “This ends now.”

The administration, however, has repeatedly failed in its attempts to stop federal funding for Washington and other largely Democratic states.

In a statement Thursday, Mike Faulk, a spokesperson for Washington Attorney General Nick Brown, said that “Congress has the power of the purse, and the law says the federal government cannot withhold funds to coerce states to go along with the president’s extreme political agenda.

“The president’s previous attempts to make federal funding contingent on state immigration enforcement led to several of our successful lawsuits against the administration for illegally withholding or canceling grants,” Faulk said. “The public can expect any similarly illegal actions by the administration harming Washington will be challenged by our office.”

Last week, the Department of Transportation dropped its appeal of a court ruling that blocked the agency from tying grant funding for states to assistance in federal immigration enforcement in a case brought by Washington and 21 other states. The case, which was filed in May 2025, came after the agency threatened to withhold more than $1 billion in funding to Washington.

In December, a Federal Judge in Rhode Island ruled the administration could not divert federal homeland security funding away from Washington and 12 other states because of federal immigration policy.

And in October, a federal judge granted a preliminary injunction that temporarily blocked the Department of Agriculture from demanding states turn over personal and sensitive information about those who use the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, otherwise known as food stamps.

The agency previously threatened to withhold funding from states that did not comply with the request. Washington state receives about $129.5 million a year through the program.

Reporter Orion Donovan Smith contributed reporting.