On August 18, 2025, New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin, Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha, California Attorney General Rob Bonta, Delaware Attorney General Kathy Jennings, and Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul led a coalition of 21 attorneys general in filing a lawsuit challenging the Trump administration’s efforts to unlawfully impose immigration enforcement requirements on more than $1 billion dollars in annual Department of Justice Victims of Crime Act grants.  

The Victims of Crime Act (VOCA) was enacted in 1984 by President Ronald Reagan, creating a series of grant programs to enable states to provide critical resources and services to victims and survivors of crime, including: victim and witness advocacy services; emergency shelter; medical, funeral, and burial expenses; crime scene cleanup; sexual assault forensic exams; and much more.  Since 1984, Congress has mandated the distribution of nearly all VOCA funds to states based on fixed statutory formulas — meaning each state is entitled to a specific amount of funding based on the applicable formula. Yet in July 2025, the Office of Victims for Crime — an agency within U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) charged with administering VOCA grants — declared that states will be unable to access VOCA funds unless they agree to broadly support and assist the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s federal immigration enforcement activities.   

The attorney general coalition’s suit argues that imposing this new set of immigration-related conditions across VOCA grant programs is arbitrary and capricious, exceeds DOJ’s legal authority, and violates the Spending Clause. They have asked the court to block the DOJ from enforcing these conditions, vacate the immigration enforcement requirements from this year’s VOCA grants, and ensure that states continue to receive the over $1 billion in funds Congress intended to support crime victims and their families.  

New Jerseyans who have been victimized by serious crime are now being mistreated by their own federal government as the Trump Administration attempts to block funding for advocacy services, sexual assault forensic exams, medical and funeral expenses, and other critical resources in their time of need. Playing politics with the lives of people who have suffered so greatly is reckless, it is cruel, and in this case – it is illegal. We are filing suit today to stand up for our residents, and for the law, which prevents these unlawful conditions on Congressionally-authorized funding. We look forward to blocking these conditions and preventing further harms to crime victims. Attorney General Matt Platkin