New Jersey attorney general gets access to $25 million withheld by Trump administration in dispute over immigration
(The Center Square) – New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir Grewal this week hailed the return to the state of federal funding for public safety – funds that had been withheld during multistate legal challenges from the Trump administration’s Department of Justice.
New Jersey had been receiving federal funding under the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant program. In 2017, the U.S. Department of Justice threatened to withhold these funds from states and jurisdictions that did not comply with new immigration-related conditions, costing New Jersey $25 million that year.
In 2018, New Jersey received notice that it must participate in enforcing the federal government’s civil immigration policies to receive the grant.
The conditions of participation would require state and local governments to provide the U.S. Department of Homeland Security with advance notice of an immigrant’s scheduled release date from a correctional facility, allow federal agents access to correctional facilities to question immigrants, and certify state and local compliance with the Department of Justice’s new interpretation of a federal information-sharing law.
A coalition of attorneys general, including Grewal, filed a lawsuit against the Department of Justice in July 2018 to challenge the new requirements to receive the grants.
In November 2018, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York ruled in favor of the states and permanently restricted conditions of the grant. The court concluded that the Department of Justice lacked authority to condition public safety funds on compliance with immigration-related conditions.
Grant funds for 2017 were restored and New Jersey and other plaintiffs were granted access to withheld funds.
“This is a victory for public safety in New Jersey,” Grewal said in a news release. “The Trump Administration’s attempts to tie vital law enforcement funding to harsh, anti-immigrant policies have failed, and we have prevailed against efforts to weaponize grant dollars that help protect our state.”
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