Attorney General Bonta Secures Final Ruling Blocking Illegal Conditioning of Transportation Grant Funding

“If President Trump wants to stop losing in court, he should stop breaking the law.” 

OAKLAND — California Attorney General Rob Bonta today secured a permanent injunction from the U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island blocking the Trump Administration’s effort to unlawfully impose immigration enforcement requirements on billions of dollars in annual U.S. Department of Transportation grants. The final ruling follows multistate litigation and a preliminary injunction. In issuing a permanent injunction, the Court found that the Trump Administration has “blatantly overstepped their statutory authority, violated the APA, and transgressed well-settled constitutional limitations on federal funding conditions. The Constitution demands the Court set aside this lawless behavior.”

“If President Trump wants to stop losing in court, he should stop breaking the law. The courts have repeatedly and firmly rejected the Trump Administration’s efforts to infringe on states’ constitutional right to set their own policy priorities,” said Attorney General Bonta. “California will not be a pawn in the President’s political games. We will not be bullied into doing the Trump Administration’s bidding. I’m grateful to the court for putting a stop to this nonsense and ensuring we are able to continue to receive vital transportation dollars that support our public infrastructure and keep our roads safe.”  

California receives billions in grant funding from the Department of Transportation to support and maintain the roads, highways, railways, airways, and bridges that connect our communities and carry our residents to their workplaces and their homes. This includes funding to maintain and build highways. It also includes funding for transit systems in urban and rural communities across the state — including buses, subways, light rail, commuter rail, trolleys, and ferries. Neither the purpose of these grants, nor their grant criteria, are in any way connected to immigration enforcement. 

A copy of the court’s decision is available here.