20 states sued Trump administration over linking funding to immigration enforcement

Planet Daily News: 20 states led by the Democratic Party filed two lawsuits on Tuesday in an attempt to block the Trump administration from mandating state cooperation with immigration enforcement, otherwise threatening to withhold billions of dollars in transportation construction, counterterrorism, and emergency preparedness funds. In the lawsuits filed in the Rhode Island federal court, the states pointed out that the U.S. Department of Transportation and Department of Homeland Security are illegally using federal funds to coerce states into complying with Trump's hardline immigration policies. Rob Bonta, the California Democratic Attorney General leading the lawsuit, condemned that Trump is threatening states with "blatant illegality" - canceling federal funds for road improvements and emergency preparedness if states do not use local resources to support immigration enforcement. "He is using these funds, which have nothing to do with immigration enforcement but are crucial for community safety, as political bargaining chips," Bonta stated in a statement. The states accuse the federal government of unconstitutionally usurping Congress's fiscal spending power by attaching immigration enforcement conditions to funding allocations.