US judge skeptical of Trump plan tying states' transportation funds to immigration

By Nate Raymond

June 18 (Reuters) - A federal judge in Rhode Island appeared inclined on Tuesday to block President Donald Trump's administration from forcing 20 Democratic-led states to cooperate with immigration enforcement in order to receive billions of dollars in transportation grant funding.

Chief U.S. District Judge John McConnell during a hearing in Providence, Rhode Island, questioned what authority U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy had to impose an immigration-related condition on federal highway funding that was far outside the Transportation Department's main purpose.

"Where does the secretary get the power and authority to impose immigration conditions on transportation?" McConnell asked.

The judge, an appointee of Democratic President Barack Obama, asked whether finding that Duffy could impose such a condition would mean he similarly would have the authority to restrict the disbursement of federal highway funds to states like California and Rhode Island where abortion is legal.

Acting U.S. Attorney Sara Bloom said that question was "beyond my authority or direction from the DOT to address." But she said that in the case of immigration, Duffy rationally concluded that conditioning compliance was "relevant to the safety and security of the transportation system."

But California Deputy Attorney General Delbert Tran, arguing for the states, said Duffy had no legal authority to tack on a condition to congressionally-authorized funding used by states to improve bridges, highways, railroads, ports and airports.

"Defendants seek to hold hostage tens of billions of dollars of critical transportation funding in order to force plaintiff states to become mere arms of the federal government’s immigration enforcement policies," Tran said.

McConnell said he would rule by Friday, when states face a deadline to apply for certain DOT grants that would require them to agree to the immigration enforcement condition.

Since returning to office on January 20, Trump has signed several executive orders that have called for cutting off federal funding to so-called sanctuary jurisdictions that do not cooperate with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement as his administration has moved to conduct mass deportations.

Sanctuary jurisdictions generally have laws and policies that limit or prevent local law enforcement from assisting federal officers with civil immigration arrests.

The Justice Department has filed a series of lawsuits against such jurisdictions, including Illinois, New York and Colorado, challenging laws in those Democratic-led states that it says hinder federal immigration enforcement.

The lawsuit before McConnell was filed after Duffy on April 24 notified states that they could lose transportation funding if they do not cooperate with the enforcement of federal law, including with ICE in its efforts to enforce immigration law.

The states argue that the policy is improper and amounts to an unconstitutionally ambiguous condition on the states' ability to receive funding authorized by Congress as it leaves unclear what exactly would constitute adequate cooperation.

Bloom urged McConnell to read Duffy's letter narrowly and interpret it as merely requiring states to comply with federal law, which they must do regardless. But McConnell said her argument appeared to simply bolster the states' contention that the condition was vague.

He said the administration "chose to issue a rather broad, all-encompassing, not tied to any statutory authority directive," and that someone only needed to read the news to understand the states' concerns given how Trump has railed against "sanctuary" cities that limit cooperation with ICE.

"I think you're asking me to interpret a section of the directive, cooperate with us, very differently than the administration has publicly intended it to be," he said.

The case is State of California v. United States Department of Transportation, U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island, No. 1:25-cv-00208.

For the states: Delbert Tran of the California Department of Justice

For the United States: Acting U.S. Attorney Sara Bloom of the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Rhode Island