• Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel joins lawsuit challenging new requirements for federal crime victim services funding 
• Nessel argues immigration policy shouldn’t factor into crime services. Conservatives say Nessel is making a political statement
• Michigan has joined more than 30 multistate lawsuits challenging the Trump administration’s funding cuts and policy shifts

---

Michigan is suing the Trump administration for tying $37 million in crime victim service funding for the state to immigration enforcement, marking the latest of more than 30 multistate lawsuits Attorney General Dana Nessel has joined challenging President Donald Trump’s priorities. 

In a complaint filed this week, Nessel — along with fellow Democratic attorneys general in 19 states and Washington, DC — argued the Department of Justice is illegally setting conditions on funding to assist crime victims disbursed to states under the Victims of Crime Act.

This year’s round of grant funding came with new conditions: Any program that “impedes or hinders the enforcement of immigration law,” including failing to cooperate with the Department of Homeland Security, would be ineligible for funds. 

Grant recipients would also have to certify that the programs do not have diversity, equity and inclusion components. 

“The Trump administration has promised to be tough on crime, but if anything, they’re making us fundamentally less safe by threatening these victim services programs, which we so badly need,” Nessel said in an interview with Bridge Michigan. 

Conservatives dismissed the suit as the latest effort by Nessel and other Democratic attorneys general to undermine Trump’s agenda, which has focused heavily on enforcing immigration law and ramping up deportations. 

“This latest (lawsuit) is just another in a long line,” said Sen. Jim Runestad, a White Lake Republican and chair of the Michigan Republican Party. 

“The president wants cooperation with federal law enforcement on immigration … All she cares about is this virtue signaling with our tax dollars.”

To local prosecutors who rely on federal funding to cover costs of victim advocates and other services to help survivors of crime, it remains unclear what compliance with federal immigration law means for their communities. 

“Uncertainty is always difficult in the law, and we want to assure victims, when we are handling their cases, that first of all, their confidentiality will be absolutely maintained, that we’ll do everything we can to keep them safe,” said Midland County Prosecutor J. Dee Brooks, president of the Prosecuting Attorneys Association of Michigan. 

“Not knowing what those requirements are, and that funding could be terminated at some point without really having a chance to address that, that’s certainly a concern,” he continued. 

Millions on the line

A 1984 law signed by President Ronald Reagan uses a population-based formula to send funding to states to support crime victims. 

The money can be used to pay for medical expenses or funeral costs, domestic violence recovery centers, crime scene cleanup, shelter, legal counsel and resources for survivors of sexual assault and human trafficking, among other services. 

Nationally, the US Department of Justice grants are expected to total nearly $1.3 billion this fiscal year. Michigan is in line for $37 million in funds benefiting at least 115 victim services organizations, according to the Attorney General’s office. 

The federal government’s online list of grant recipients has been “temporarily unavailable” for months, but an archived version shows 2024 grants in Michigan included $7.3 million for survivors of the 2021 Oxford school shooting, $200,000 for Sara’s House/Place, a women’s shelter in Detroit, and $500,000 for Avalon Healing Center, a Detroit center supporting victims of sexual assault. 

It’s unclear whether Michigan would be a direct target for widespread cuts based on state immigration policy. 

The state isn’t included on the Department of Justice’s list of so-called “sanctuary states” that the administration accuses of impeding immigration law enforcement. The city of East Lansing is the only Michigan jurisdiction that has formally designated itself as a “sanctuary city.” 

Michigan is also home to the largest immigration detention facility in the Midwest, a former private prison facility in Baldwin whose operator recently contracted with the federal government.

Related:

• As ICE detention center opens, ‘dangerous times to be an immigrant in Michigan’
• Six ways Michigan’s Dana Nessel is challenging Donald Trump’s agenda
• Nessel sues as Trump health cuts hit Michigan disease, addiction programs

But Nessel and other Democratic attorneys general argue the mere threat of those funds getting pulled is a cause for concern, especially for funding initially designed to assist crime victims with minimal strings attached. 

State and local governments couldn’t afford to make up the difference if federal funding didn’t come through, Nessel said, adding that any reduction in access to specially trained staff helping vulnerable crime victims is “very bad for law enforcement.” 

Nessel predicted victim information “would be the primary thing that the federal government would be asking for” from the state or victim service organizations to ensure compliance with immigration enforcement, which she said could jeopardize their privacy and safety.

“This is information sharing that is not supposed to be occurring on a widespread level, because it leaves those victims and witnesses vulnerable,” she said. “I think it’s incredibly scary for people.” 

Brooks, the Midland County prosecutor, said his county’s two federally-subsidized victim advocates and the ancillary services they provide are “absolutely essential” to operations, serving as the first line of communication with victims of serious crimes and helping them navigate the legal system. 

Midland County receives about $147,500 per year to help fund those positions and direct services to victims. 

“This funding we’ve relied on for decades to support those positions, and I don’t believe we could do our job nearly as well or do the things we’re supposed to do without them,” he said. 

Victims of crime are already dealing with enough uncertainty without the added stress of worrying if their confidentiality is protected or whether a trained advocate will call back with answers to their questions, Brooks said. 

“We don’t involve ourselves in victim blaming or creating difficult situations for the victim — we want them to be free to seek help when they need it…and to be willing to participate in the criminal justice system,” he said. 

Where challenges stand

Arguments outlined in the latest suit echo a flurry of federal multistate complaints Nessel has joined challenging the constitutionality of the Trump administration’s actions since he took office in January. 

Those cases — including challenges to birthright citizenship changes, federal employee firings, downsizing of the Department of Education and the abrupt cancellation of federal grants across several agencies — are still winding their way through federal courts. 

Nessel has said she’s focused her department’s efforts on what she sees as blatant violations of law that directly impact Michigan residents. So far, she’s signed onto 32 lawsuits challenging various Trump actions, from dramatic downsizing of the federal government to federal grant cuts. 

Her approach differs from Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, a fellow Democrat who has sought to find common ground with Trump in White House meetings that have resulted in the president backing requests to bring a new fighter mission to Selfridge Air National Guard Base and construct a barrier to try to keep Asian Carp out of the Great Lakes. 

Nessel has questioned Whitmer’s work with Trump.

To date, 10 of the multistate challenges Nessel is a part of have resulted in ongoing preliminary injunctions that have paused Trump-backed initiatives while court cases are pending, many of which involved sweeping cuts to federally-funded grants already approved by Congress. 

Higher courts reversed initial preliminary injunctions in challenges to federal employee firings and DOE downsizing, allowing affected departments to proceed while legal challenges continue.

Runestad, the state GOP chair, said the strategy amounts to “virtue signaling with our tax dollars” and represents significant amounts of state attorney time that are being diverted away from the pressing needs of Michigan residents. 

“Her job is protecting the people, but this social engineering and this virtue signaling is really at the core of her decisions,” he said.

Nessel maintains that ensuring money the federal government promised to Michigan is a worthy pursuit.

She estimates her department has spent between $8,000 and $10,000 on the federal suits so far and claims her office has saved Michigan at least $1.6 billion by standing in the way of proposed federal spending cuts. 

“We have saved the state a substantial amount of money,” she said, later adding that she would have thought critics “would be very enthusiastic about our litigation saving the state of Michigan as much money as we had, and trying to root out fraud and abuse.”

Republish This Story

Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under our Republication Guidelines. Questions? Email republishing@bridgemi.com