DOJ Threatens To Strip Police And Rape Kit Funding From Sanctuary Cities Blocking ICE

The Trump administration's aggressive push to force 'sanctuary' jurisdictions into stricter immigration cooperation has triggered a mounting public safety crisis, as the Department of Justice (DOJ) moves to withhold essential federal grants from cities across the United States.

Municipal leaders warn that by conditioning access to public safety funds on compliance with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) directives, the administration is jeopardising critical local services, ranging from the processing of sexual assault evidence kits to the procurement of bulletproof vests for police and ambulances for first responders. This escalating standoff has forced city officials into a stark dilemma: abandon long-standing local sanctuary policies or risk the loss of life-saving infrastructure.

As legal challenges mount and first responders voice growing alarm, the conflict has transformed a debate over federalism into an urgent test of local government's ability to protect its most vulnerable residents.

DoJ officially named 12 states, 18 cities, and three counties in October that it stated materially impede the enforcement of federal immigration statutes. Many of these locations generally refuse to share information with ICE, decline to hold individuals for federal agents, or restrict officers from entering their jails.

Trump Admin Push Threatens Crucial Police Funding

Fresno City Attorney Andrew Janz expressed frustration upon learning of the administration's strategy. His city relies on federal grant money to help prosecute sexual predators. Because Fresno is designated as a sanctuary jurisdiction under state law, those funds are currently at risk. Janz, a career prosecutor whose office has filed more than thirty cases against alleged rapists using this targeted federal money, emphasised the impact on active investigations.

'Justice for victims shouldn't be politicised. It has nothing to do with immigration enforcement,' Janz told USA TODAY.

Last year, the president signed an executive order directing federal agencies to suspend grants to states and cities that do not cooperate with immigration officials. This mandate applies to the public safety grants used to pay for processing rape kits to convict child sex offenders in cities like Fresno. The administration's promise to withhold funding from these areas relies on the strongest tool at its disposal (which, unsurprisingly, is federal money).

The immediate effects are already surfacing in legal filings and municipal warnings. According to a lawsuit, there will be no federal funds for bulletproof vests for police officers in Santa Cruz, California, and no ambulances for paramedics in Beaverton, Oregon. In Fresno, a two-million dollar federal grant used to process a batch of four hundred rape kits is at risk of being stripped away.

ICE Compliance Pressure Threatens Rape Kit Cases

DOJ grant administrators sent Fresno a note in June, pointing out that the city had not signed a certification confirming it would cooperate with the Department of Homeland Security and ICE. The warning stipulated that the city risked losing the money, with the DOJ checking to ensure the lack of a signature was not an oversight.

Janz noted that the situation puts the city in a bind. State law prohibits sharing that type of information, and the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has previously upheld the constitutionality of the legislation. Janz sent the DOJ an answer to their warning, stating there was no mistake and the city would not be assisting ICE. He indicated his letter is likely a final step before the situation heads to court. Fresno has already gone to court over other grants tied up due to the administration's campaign against diversity, equity, and inclusion.

'DOJ sent out a warning shot, we sent one back,' Janz said.

'This is a bad time for them to hold up testing for victims of sexual assault,' Janz added. 'This is a no-brainer. Let's help these victims get justice.'

When asked for comment, the DOJ declined to answer questions about the future of Fresno's grant. DOJ spokesperson Wyn Hornbuckle wrote to USA TODAY in an email: 'Applicants are required to submit a certification that they will comply with federal law.'

First Responders Warn Funding Cuts Harm Ambulances

First responders across the West Coast have detailed the operational consequences of losing this financial support. Police officers in Corvallis, Oregon, rely on body armour funded by the Department of Justice, Police Chief Jason Harvey told a federal court in a May legal filing. Without that money, which amounts to approximately twenty-seven thousand dollars over the last two years, his officers face increased unnecessary danger.

'Such loss risks officer safety and reduces their capacity to effectively protect city residents,' Harvey wrote in the legal filing.

The Corvallis fire department would also suffer without the federal funding. The city's ambulance service would be slower to respond to 911 calls, putting residents' lives in danger, wrote the city's fire chief, Ben Janes.

In Santa Cruz, California, FEMA grants, policing grants, and a water-supply project designed to build drought resiliency are all in jeopardy if the government continues to threaten to withhold funds, wrote the city's Finance Director Elizabeth Cabell. She outlined a scenario involving layoffs for city employees and cuts to basic city services, such as reliably providing water and hardening the city against natural disasters like wildfires and earthquakes.

'Not knowing whether Santa Cruz will receive its federal funding puts the operations of at least four City Departments in question,' Cabell wrote. 'Uncertainty regarding federal funding means the city cannot know whether to operate, pause, or cancel its programs.'

Legal Battles Mount Against ICE Funding Demands

A California federal judge dealt a blow to the Trump administration on 9 July when he ruled the federal government could not withhold public safety grants to Oregon and California cities. Judge William Orrick authored a sixty-eight-page ruling stating the administration overstepped its bounds, agreeing with Fresno and seven other cities that the strings attached to the grant have nothing to do with or contradict the Congressional purpose.

Orrick wrote that the public has a legitimate interest in seeing its communities receive funding for critical infrastructure and public safety initiatives, noting the funding is paid for by their federal tax dollars. The same judge ruled last year that the administration could not deny funding to Boston, Chicago, Denver, Los Angeles, and thirty other cities over the lack of immigration enforcement cooperation. He issued a similar ruling in 2017 during the administration's first term.

Despite these rulings, another legal battle is brewing specifically over sexual assault evidence kits. The 350 million dollar Sexual Assault Kit Initiative, paid for by federal grants, is widely viewed by advocates as a proven crime-fighting tool that has no ties to ICE or the detainment and data-sharing disputes between local and federal officials. More than 21 locales that initially received grants to test rape kits are now designated as sanctuary jurisdictions.

These kits contain forensic evidence waiting to be tested and uploaded into a federal DNA database to search for matches connected to other rapes and serious crimes. Fresno made good use of past grant money, testing more than 2,500 backlogged kits, funding thirty-three new cases, and convicting four people of rape.

How Cities Handle The ICE Funding Pressure

Leaders at the Joyful Heart Foundation, who advocated for rape kit funding in 2015 under former President Obama when the backlogs were first revealed, expressed outrage over the funding threats. They argue the return on investment for testing evidence is well documented. Studies from West Virginia and Ohio show that tying rapes across borders to one criminal prevents other crimes and can save communities millions.

'Denying a city funding to test rape kits is wrong-headed when your stated goal is taking dangerous offenders off the streets,' said Ilse Knecht, the organisation's director of policy and advocacy. 'Rapists are often serial rapists. They're not specialists, and they don't stop until they're stopped. Red state or blue state, these guys move around.'

Last week, Dallas police announced the arrest of 35-year-old Jarvis Pierce using DNA testing from the federal programme. He is accused in a cold case rape from more than ten years ago.

Even with federal investment, the initiative has faced internal challenges. A 2024 USA TODAY investigation showed departments had haphazard protocols and were slow to build cases to achieve justice for rape victims. Now, administrators fear the programme may be further restricted by the withholding of funds.

Municipalities are taking varied approaches to the ongoing pressure. Miami is facing backlash from residents after city leaders signed on to ICE's programme. Meanwhile, other cities, from Seattle to San Diego, are launching their own court battles.

In Southern California, the Los Angeles County District Attorney's administrative chief Navjot Kaur, whose office represents ten million residents, wrote in a legal filing that the county was forced not to apply for federal funding to test rape kits because of the sanctuary jurisdiction classification. Administrators worry the county's backlog of unsubmitted kits will grow, and victim services could lag.

Portland, Oregon, maintains 8.6 million dollars in active DOJ grants, including 2.5 million dollars specifically for cold cases and sexual assault kits. The city helped clear the state's backlog of thousands of forgotten and untested kits in 2018 with federal funding. However, kits continued to accumulate, and in 2024, the state's backlog returned. Portland Police were waiting eight months for kits to be tested and have hundreds in line. Without the funding, City Administrator Raymond Lee wrote in a filing, the programmes would be significantly curtailed or eliminated.

For now, the impasse remains unresolved, as the administration maintains its pressure campaign and local leaders warn that the price of this political standoff will be measured in public safety and lost opportunities for justice.