NJ wins back millions in crime victim aid, anti-terror funds that Trump tried to nix

⚖️ NJ wins major legal fight to protect over $1.3B in victim aid funding
🚨 Federal threats over immigration policies triggered multi-state lawsuits
💰 Millions in anti-terror & victim compensation funds saved from cuts

TRENTON – New Jersey has won two more legal battles against the federal government, securing millions of dollars in counter-terrorism and crime victim funding that the Trump administration held up as part of its agenda to compel states to cooperate with its immigration agenda.

State Attorney General Matthew Platkin said federal officials would remove illegal conditions on more than $1.3 billion in grants to crime victims.

What is the Victims of Crime Act and why it matters

The Victims of Crime Act has been in place since President Ronald Reagan signed it into law in 1984. The federal grants help states provide resources like victim and witness advocacy services, emergency shelter, medical, funeral, and burial expenses, crime scene cleanup, sexual assault forensic exams, and more.

States use the funds to support nearly nine million victims each year and to pay into more than 200,000 victims’ claims in that same time span.

Trump threats tied victim funds to immigration cooperation

Earlier this year, the Trump administration declared that it would withhold the funding unless the state assisted in federal immigration enforcement.

New Jersey's immigrant trust directive — derided by critics as a "sanctuary state" policy — has been targeted by President Donald Trump, U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem and acting U.S. Attorney for New Jersey Alina Habba.

Since 2018, the state has limited the type of voluntary assistance that police may provide to federal civil immigration authorities, including Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

New Jersey’s 36,000 law enforcement officers enforce state criminal laws and cooperate with federal criminal investigations but are barred from stopping, questioning, arresting, searching, or detaining any person based solely on suspected immigration status.

Lawsuit from 19 states prompts federal reversal

Following the lawsuit brought by the coalition of 19 states and Washington, D.C., federal prosecutors dropped conditions on $178 million in victim assistance and $1.2 billion in victim compensation grants.

In addition to New Jersey, the active lawsuit includes California, Delaware, Illinois, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Vermont, Washington, Wisconsin, and the District of Columbia.

Judge blocks $233M in anti-terror funding cuts

Similarly, a federal judge this week blocked the Trump administration from seizing $233 million in anti-terrorism funding from Democratic-led states, Newsweek reported.

U.S. District Judge Mary S. McElroy, who was appointed to the bench by Trump in 2018, issued a temporary restraining order that preserves Homeland Security grant funds for New Jersey, New York, nine other states and Washington, D.C., while the lawsuit proceeds.

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