US drops appeal of order blocking Trump plan to tie state transportation funds to immigration enforcement

By David Shepardson

WASHINGTON, Jan 13 (Reuters) – The U.S. Justice Department on Tuesday asked a federal appeals court to dismiss its appeal of a lower court order blocking President Donald Trump’s administration from forcing 20 Democratic-led states to cooperate with immigration enforcement to receive billions of dollars in transportation grant funding.

In July, a U.S. judge in Rhode Island ruled the U.S. Department of Transportation lacked authority to require the states to cooperate with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to obtain transportation funding and that the condition violated the U.S. Constitution.

California Attorney General Rob Bonta, who led the legal challenge that also included the District of Columbia said the “Trump Administration attempted to use vital transportation dollars as a bargaining chip for its political agenda.” He noted California gets billions of dollars annually in federal transportation funding.

Bonta added he was “pleased that the Trump Administration has accepted defeat and agreed to drop its appeal of this decision. California is not playing games when it comes to vital transportation dollars that support our public infrastructure, and we will continue taking the president to court each time he weaponizes federal funding to bully our communities.”

The judge last year found USDOT provided no plausible connection between cooperating with immigration enforcement and the purposes Congress intended for the funding, which is to support highways, bridges and other transportation projects.

USDOT did not immediately comment on Tuesday. Last week, USDOT said it was withholding $160 million in federal funds from California for failing to cancel over 17,000 improperly issued commercial driver’s licenses held by non-U.S. citizens.

California said it is fully in compliance with state and federal regulations, a spokesperson said, adding it strongly disagrees with the federal government’s decision to withhold vital transportation funding from California.

Last month, California sued USDOT for earlier withholding more than $33 million in federal funding after USDOT said the state failed to comply with rules requiring English proficiency for truck drivers. California dropped a separate suit in December that it filed after USDOT rescinded $4 billion in high-speed rail funding.

(Reporting by David Shepardson in Washington; Editing by Tom Hogue and Christopher Cushing)