Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel has reached an agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) to prevent the enforcement of new restrictions on Victims of Crime Act (VOCA) and Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) services. These restrictions, if applied, would have required survivors of sexual assault and domestic violence to immediately prove their immigration status before accessing legal services.
Last month, Nessel joined 20 other state attorneys general in a lawsuit challenging these conditions. The DOJ has now agreed not to apply the restrictions to states’ VOCA Victim Assistance and VAWA funds, ensuring that survivors will continue to have access to support regardless of immigration status.
“Crime victims, regardless of their immigration status, deserve support, and I am relieved that our lawsuit forced the Trump Administration to stop its illegal attempt to cut off legal services for survivors,” Nessel said. “One of the top priorities for my office and the Department of Justice must always be to stand with and empower crime victims, and this agreement ensures the federal government cannot use unlawful restrictions to deny them the help they need to heal and rebuild their lives.”
For many years, VAWA and VOCA programs have funded services such as legal assistance for protective orders, child custody issues, housing support, relocation help, and civil legal aid for survivors escaping abuse. VAWA also supports rape crisis centers offering immediate help after sexual assault. Congress designed these programs so all eligible survivors could seek help without fear about their immigration status.
In October, after being informed by DOJ that funding could no longer be used for undocumented immigrants’ legal services—even retroactively—the coalition filed suit. Attorneys general argued that requiring proof of immigration status would create major challenges for service providers who do not collect such information and could put survivors at risk.
With this new agreement in place, DOJ will not enforce the contested restriction on any current VOCA or VAWA grant awards. As a result, Nessel and her colleagues are dismissing their lawsuit but retain the right to refile if similar actions are taken by DOJ in future.
The stipulation was joined by attorneys general from Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Vermont, Rhode Island, Washington state and Washington D.C.
