Chief Judge John McConnell for the US District Court of Rhode Island ruled Tuesday that the Department of Transportation (DOT) cannot require states to cooperate with federal immigration authorities in order to receive federal transportation funding. The case was brought by twenty Democratic state attorneys general against the DOT in May, claiming that the DOT and other federal agencies were unlawfully withholding billions of dollars in funding.

The order deemed the “Immigration Enforcement Condition” (IEC) unlawful on three grounds: lack of statutory authority, violation of the Administrative Procedure Act (APA), and violation of the Spending Clause of the constitution. The court found that the eligibility requirements for funding are determined by the statutes enabling the DOT

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