Case Explained: Nationwide coalition challenges Trump Administration’s attempt to withhold support from noncitizen victims of crime – Legal Perspective

From an ACLU of Rhode Island press release:

The Rhode Island Coalition Against Domestic Violence (RICADV) and a nationwide group of other state domestic violence and sexual assault coalitions today filed an amended complaint and a motion for a temporary restraining order (TRO) asking the U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island to block the Trump Administration from enforcing unlawful new restrictions on grants issued to help victims of domestic violence and other crimes.

The filings follow a lawsuit – Rhode Island Coalition Against Domestic Violence, et al. v. Bondi – filed in June 2025 that successfully obtained preliminary relief against the administration’s conditions on federal funding for lifesaving programs administered by the U.S. Department of Justice’s (DOJ) Office on Violence Against Women (OVW). DOJ’s efforts targeted grantees that implement diversity, equity, and inclusion programs, as well as those that recognize and respect people regardless of gender identity. The court issued a preliminary order in August 2025, blocking the DOJ from enforcing its unlawful restrictions, which would have made it impossible for many grantees to operate legally or effectively.

Now, DOJ has imposed additional conditions on critical grant funding administered by the Office of Justice Programs (OJP) in its Office for Victims of Crime (OVC). These new conditions include restrictions and limitations that would prevent providers from serving certain noncitizen survivors. The coalition argues that the conditions are unauthorized, vague, and that they fail to account for the devastating consequences they will have.

“Each additional attempt by the federal government to restrict funding for these lifesaving services — now weaponizing citizenship status to exclude survivors from receiving support — is as cruel and unlawful as the last,” said Steven Brown, executive director of the ACLU of RI, adding, “We will continue to use every legal avenue to defend this funding.”

The amended complaint expands the coalition’s original lawsuit and asks the court to halt enforcement of the new restrictions while the case proceeds. The complaint argues that the administration’s new conditions exceed DOJ’s authority, violate the Constitution, conflict with statutory requirements protecting communities in vulnerable situations, and unlawfully leverage the threat of False Claims Act liability to pressure providers to alter their programming and speech. The newest unlawful conditions once again put organizations in the impossible position of having to either risk severe financial penalties and undermine their missions or sacrifice essential funding that supports survivors of violence.

Read the amended complaint here and the motion for temporary restraining order here.

The coalition issued the following statement:

“Funding for victims of crime has supported lifesaving services for domestic violence and sexual assault survivors and strengthened communities nationwide. These grants help sustain shelters, crisis response services, legal assistance, prevention programs, and coordinated community efforts that victims rely on in moments of profound danger. The administration’s new restrictions threaten to undermine that work, create confusion and fear among providers and survivors alike, and place critical resources at risk. We are asking the court to ensure that congressionally authorized grants can continue to support survivors as Congress intended, without unlawful political conditions attached.”

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