The Delaware Department of Justice confirmed on November 6, 2026, that Attorney General Kathy Jennings secured a landmark legal victory in federal court, successfully barring the federal government from imposing unlawful immigration conditions to withhold critical law enforcement and public safety grant funding. Presided over by Chief Judge John J. McConnell, Jr. of the U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island, the decision declared the federal administrative mandates unlawful and permanently enjoined federal authorities from enforcing immigration-related strings on congressionally appropriated state and local justice funds. The federal ruling directly safeguards more than $1.1 million in essential public safety, crime reduction, and juvenile delinquency prevention awards designated for the State of Delaware. Protecting Crucial Police Grants and Crisis Intervention Resources The multi-state legal dispute centered on executive attempts to unilaterally alter statutory spending mandates passed by Congress, conditioning routine federal criminal justice allocations on state and local participation in federal civil immigration enforcement. The challenged restrictions targeted core grant programs, including the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Formula Grants, widely known as the Byrne JAG Program, alongside federal crisis intervention initiatives. For decades, spanning presidential administrations of both major political parties, the Byrne JAG framework has served as the paramount federal funding mechanism supporting state and municipal police departments, funding protective body armor, violent crime investigations, narcotics interdiction operations, and Megan's Law sex offender tracking.
Injunction protects $485,000 and $686,000 Delaware awards
According to statutory allocations confirmed by state justice officials, the permanent injunction insulates two critical tranches of federal funding for Delaware. Specifically, the decision protects more than $485,000 in Delaware awards administered under Title II Part B of the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act, alongside more than $686,000 provided through the Byrne State Crisis Intervention Program. Within Delaware, the Byrne State Crisis Intervention allocation directly finances community safety infrastructures, including extreme risk protection order programs, specialized mental health diversion courts, drug treatment courts, and veterans treatment court initiatives designed to break cycles of criminal recidivism and curb gun violence. Safeguarding Separation of Powers and Constitutional Federalism In issuing the permanent injunction, the federal court reaffirmed fundamental principles of constitutional federalism, emphasizing that civil immigration enforcement remains an exclusive responsibility of the federal government rather than state and local authorities. The court determined that administrative attempts to compel states into implementing federal immigration priorities by threatening congressionally appropriated funds violate the bedrock separation of powers doctrine, the Tenth Amendment, and the Spending Clause of the United States Constitution.
Delaware Attorney General Kathy Jennings forcefully condemned the administrative overreach following the ruling. "This attempt to strip funding from law enforcement looks a lot like the countless other attempts by the Trump Administration to bully and harass our state," said Attorney General Kathy Jennings. "It was malicious, destructive, and poorly conceived – and now, it's failed."
The court victory marks the second time the multistate coalition has repelled executive attempts to attach immigration demands to federal justice grants. Last year, the federal government declared that states would be barred from accessing Victims of Crime Act funds unless they acceded to extreme administrative demands. In response, the multistate coalition initiated federal litigation that forced federal authorities to drop all immigration-related conditions across more than $1.3 billion in national crime victim assistance funds. However, federal authorities subsequently attempted to reimpose similar unlawful conditions on state police and juvenile justice grants, prompting the coalition to file an amended complaint that culminated in the permanent injunction. A Coalition of Twenty-Three Jurisdictions Defends Public Safety The successful legal challenge was co-led by Delaware Attorney General Kathy Jennings, California Attorney General Rob Bonta, New Jersey Attorney General Jennifer Davenport, Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul, and Rhode Island Attorney General Peter F. Neronha. The coalition brought together twenty-three jurisdictions, uniting the attorneys general of Colorado, Connecticut, Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin, and the District of Columbia, alongside the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
State legal leaders emphasized that local police officers, criminal investigators, and juvenile support counselors rely on predictable federal grant schedules to maintain officer safety equipment and community intervention programs. By prohibiting the federal government from leveraging unrelated immigration mandates to seize or delay local justice funding, the federal court order establishes an enduring barrier against administrative coercion, safeguarding more than $1.1 million for Delaware and fortifying constitutional boundaries across the nation.
