Federal judge reverses the federal administration’s illegal conditions on funding, including $667,119 for Oregon youth programs

Attorney General Dan Rayfield won a court order today protecting federal money that helps at-risk youth turn their lives around. A federal judge ruled the Trump Administration broke the law when it tried to force states to help with immigration enforcement in order to get grant funding. The judge threw out the immigration requirements and permanently blocked the federal government from using them as a condition for the funding.

“Youth intervention programs can make all the difference in a kid’s life, giving them skills and tools to create a bright future for themselves,” said Attorney General Rayfield. “Congress set this funding aside to help kids, not as leverage to advance a partisan, anti-immigrant agenda.”

In Oregon, the grant funding goes to Youth Development Oregon, a division of the Oregon Department of Education. This year, the program is expected to receive $667,119, paying for programs that keep young people from getting into trouble in the first place, improve youth probation, and support kids in the justice system and their families. Today’s ruling clears the way for Oregon to receive this year’s funding.

This is the latest example of states pushing back against the federal government’s attempts to attach illegal conditions on critical funding. Last year, the Trump administration told states they couldn’t get funds for crime victims unless they agreed to its immigration demands. A group of states pushed back, and the federal government dropped those requirements on more than $1.3 billion in crime victim funding.

In today’s case, AG Rayfield and 22 other attorneys general argued the Trump Administration can’t add strings that Congress never approved and can’t use federal money to coerce states into doing its work.

Alongside Attorney General Rayfield in filing this lawsuit were the attorneys general of California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin, and the District of Columbia, as well as the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.