In a sharp legal rebuke, a federal judge has shut down a Trump administration maneuver that sought to make transportation dollars contingent on states’ cooperation with federal immigration enforcement.
The case, brought by 20 Democratic-led states, targeted an April directive from Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy. Under that directive, states risked losing billions in infrastructure funds unless they agreed to work with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
Chief U.S. District Judge John McConnell, presiding in Rhode Island, wasn’t having it. His ruling stated unequivocally that the Department of Transportation had no legal basis to impose such a requirement. “Congress did not authorize or grant authority to the Secretary of Transportation to impose immigration enforcement conditions on federal dollars specifically appropriated for transportation purposes,” McConnell wrote in a stinging opinion.
In simpler terms: roads and bridges don’t have anything to do with border patrol.
The ruling delivers a blow to Trump’s broader effort to penalize so-called “sanctuary jurisdictions”—states and cities that limit cooperation with federal immigration authorities. Since returning to office in January, Trump has rolled out a series of executive orders aimed at squeezing these jurisdictions, hoping financial pressure would bend them to his will.
This time, the court said no.
McConnell’s preliminary injunction blocks the funding condition from being enforced while litigation continues. He also noted the administration had failed to explain how immigration enforcement was even remotely related to the aims of the transportation grants.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta, one of the lead plaintiffs, called the ruling a win for common sense. “Trump has been using vital infrastructure funding as a political weapon. Today’s decision restores the rule of law—and the separation of powers,” he said.
The administration had argued the policy fell within the Transportation Department’s discretion, but did not respond to the court’s decision.
Meanwhile, the same group of states is pursuing a parallel legal challenge, this time against immigration enforcement conditions imposed by the Department of Homeland Security on a separate set of grants.
For now, McConnell’s gavel has drawn a hard line: highways are not hostage to immigration politics.
