Overview

• Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy’s April directive warned that states failing to assist ICE would forfeit billions in DOT grants
• Twenty Democratic-led states filed suit in Rhode Island challenging the policy as an arbitrary condition exceeding the department’s statutory authority
• Judge McConnell ruled that Congress granted no power for the DOT to impose immigration enforcement terms on transportation funding and deemed the rule arbitrary under the Administrative Procedure Act
• The preliminary injunction bars enforcement of the ICE cooperation requirement against the plaintiff states and their subdivisions while the case proceeds
• California Attorney General Rob Bonta praised the ruling as a safeguard against executive overreach and a victory for states’ constitutional rights