A federal judge has stopped the Department of Transportation from linking funding to immigration policy. This ruling comes as Democratic states risk losing billions in transportation funds.
Chief Judge John McConnell Jr. of the Rhode Island federal district court supported a group of Democratic states. His ruling stops the federal government from withholding transportation funds from states that don’t follow its immigration policies.
“The states face losing billions of dollars in federal funding, are being put in a position of relinquishing their sovereign right to decide how to use their own police officers, are at risk of losing the trust built between local law enforcement and immigrant communities and will have to scale back, reconsider or cancel ongoing transportation projects,” McConnell ruled.
The issue began with a letter Duffy sent in April. This letter set immigration enforcement conditions for states to get federal transportation funds. He said states must “comply with federal law enforcement directives and … cooperate with federal officials in the enforcement of federal immigration law.” Those that didn’t, he said, would see their grant applications denied.
On June 16, Duffy threatened to cut funding to “rogue state actors” that wouldn’t cooperate with federal immigration enforcement.
The @USDOT will NOT fund rogue state actors who refuse to cooperate with federal immigration enforcement.
And to cities that stand by while rioters destroy transportation infrastructure — don’t expect a red cent from DOT, either. Follow the law, or forfeit the funding. https://t.co/cCRi4ALT23
— Secretary Sean Duffy (@SecDuffy) June 16, 2025
Nearly every Democratic attorney general joined a lawsuit against Duffy’s directive. They argued that Congress did not give the DOT power to force states into federal immigration enforcement.
By requiring immigration enforcement for transportation funding, they said, the executive branch was overstepping its authority. McConnell, an appointee of former President Barack Obama, supported this view.
“Defendants’ conduct violates (federal law) because they acted outside of their statutory authority when they issued the Duffy Directive and imposed the (immigration enforcement condition) categorically across all U.S. DOT grants when Congress appropriated those funds for transportation purposes, not immigration enforcement purposes,” McConnell stated in the order. “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 also called Duffy’s directive “arbitrary and capricious,” as it failed to explain how states should cooperate with immigration enforcement. He ruled that the condition violates the Spending Clause because it “is not at all reasonably related to the transportation funding program grants.”
“Under the defendants’ position, the executive (branch) would be allowed to place any conditions it chose on congressionally appropriated funds, even when it would be entirely unrelated to the department’s purpose,” McConnell stated. “Such is not how the three equal branches of government are allowed to operate under our Constitution.”
The federal government will likely appeal this decision. For now, states no longer need to comply with immigration policies to access federal transportation funding. LL
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