20 states and D.C. sue Trump administration for tying billions in crime victim grants to immigration enforcement

Twenty states and the District of Columbia sued the Justice Department on Monday for adding a new immigration enforcement rule to federal grants that assist victims of crime — arguing it's part of the Trump administration's crackdown against "sanctuary states."

The lawsuit focuses on the Office for Victims of Crime, a 42-year-old division of the Justice Department that hands out more than $1 billion per year to all 50 states to compensate crime victims and fund programs like local crisis counseling centers, emergency shelters, domestic abuse hotlines and victim advocacy services.

The Trump-era Justice Department added a new condition to those grants that denies funding to any program that "violates (or promotes or facilitates the violation of) federal immigration law." That includes failing to "give access to [Department of Homeland Security] agents, or honor DHS requests."