Judge blocks Trump from tying transportation funds to immigration cooperation
- A federal judge ruled that the Trump administration cannot tie transportation funding to immigration enforcement cooperation.
- Twenty states, primarily led by Democrats, sued the administration over the legality of this policy.
- The court's decision is seen as a significant victory for states reliant on federal transportation funds.
In June 2025, a federal judge in Rhode Island made a significant ruling against the Trump administration's policy that aimed to withhold federal transportation funding from states unwilling to cooperate with immigration enforcement. The judge, John J. McConnell Jr., sided with a coalition of 20 states, predominantly led by Democrats, that contested the legality of the Department of Transportation's (DOT) directive. This directive threatened to terminate crucial federal funds unless local governments adhered to specific immigration enforcement conditions. The plaintiffs argued that such provisions violated established administrative protocols and exceeded the executive's authority under the Spending Clause of the Constitution. The proceedings began after Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy's announcements in April about potential funding cuts for states labeled as