Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul has announced the latest development in a lengthy series of court battles: as part of a coalition of 20 attorneys general, Raoul’s office secured a preliminary injunction in an ongoing lawsuit against the Trump administration over billions of dollars in federal infrastructure funding.
The injunction, issued by Judge John J. McConnell, Jr. from the U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island, prevents the US Department of Transportation from imposing sweeping conditions that would require the states and state agencies to cooperate with federal immigration enforcement efforts or lose out on billions of federal dollars that states use to protect public safety and transportation infrastructure.
The White House had attempted to illegally withhold the allotted funds, which were appropriated by Congress.
In their lawsuit against the DOT, Raoul and the coalition pointed out that imposing an immigration-enforcement condition on all federal transportation funds, which Congress set aside to support critical infrastructure projects, is far beyond the agency’s legal authority. The coalition states rely upon DOT money to fund highway development and airport safety projects, to prevent injuries and fatalities from traffic accidents, and to protect against train collisions.
Last year, Illinois was awarded more than $2 billion in DOT grant money, which is used to maintain the National Highway System, state and local roads and bridges, bike paths, transit facilities, public ports, and airports. Raoul and the attorneys general contend that withholding the federal funding will damage public infrastructure across the country and will undermine public trust and cooperation in criminal investigations.
“States rely on billions of dollars appropriated by Congress to keep our residents safe as they travel our roads, railways and the skies,” Raoul said. “This critical funding has nothing to do with immigration, and the administration’s attempt to hold it hostage unless states agree to do the federal government’s job of civil immigration enforcement is unconstitutional and outrageous. I am pleased with the court’s order and am committed to using all tools at our disposal to fight the Trump administration’s ongoing attempts to play politics with Americans’ lives.”
