LANSING, Mich. (Michigan News Source) – Michigan Democratic Attorney General Dana Nessel is once again taking former President Donald Trump to court – something she’s done so often, she even keeps a tally on a website she had created called the “Federal Actions Tracker.” The website currently lists 17 lawsuits filed against the president’s administration.
This time, Nessel is leading a 19-state pack of blue-state AGs to protect funding for jurisdictions that refuse to cooperate with immigration enforcement. The issue? Trump’s administration decided that if states want billions in federal emergency and infrastructure dollars, they should help federal agents with their immigration enforcement. That was apparently a step too far for Nessel, who chose to sue the federal government rather than allow any jurisdictions in Michigan to be required to assist with arresting and deporting illegal immigrants.
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This comes as the Trump administration continues its push to prioritize the arrest and deportation of criminal illegal immigrants – a move backed by nearly all Americans. In fact, a March Pew Research Center poll found that 97% support deporting those in the country illegally who’ve committed violent crimes – a detail that seems to have escaped Nessel’s attention.
Nessel prioritizes open borders over safe and open roads.
In two lawsuits – one against the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Coast Guard – and another against the Department of Transportation (DOT) – Nessel and a coalition of Democratic attorneys general from states including California, Hawaii, and New Jersey argue that requiring state cooperation with federal immigration enforcement is unconstitutional and poses risks to public safety.
“These funds are meant to repair aging roads and bridges,” Nessel insists in a recent press release about the lawsuits. “By clawing back this already-allocated funding, Donald Trump is prioritizing political posturing over the safety and well-being of Americans.”
While the California Democratic AG, Rob Bonta, admits that no funding has been withheld yet, he says it is “imminent.” He went on to tell the Associated Press, “President Donald Trump can’t use these funds as a bargaining chip as his way of ensuring states abide by his preferred policies.”
The attorneys general contend that tying emergency and infrastructure funding to immigration enforcement priorities is an improper use of federal authority. However, by opposing federal law under Trump, critics contend they are the ones putting public safety at risk.
Lawsuit against DHS, FEMA and the Coast Guard.
In documents for the lawsuit against the DHS, FEMA and the Coast Guard it says that the Trump administration is holding federal funding “hostage” unless states promise to “devote their scarce criminal enforcement resources, and other state agency resources, to the federal government’s own task of civil immigration enforcement.”
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What’s being challenged in the lawsuit is not a single executive order by the president, but rather a set of new “Standard Terms and Conditions” issued by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) on March 27, 2025, and April 18, 2025, which the plaintiff states refer to as the “Civil Immigration Conditions.” The lawsuit states that these conditions are “arbitrary and capricious, exceeds its legal authority, and violates the Spending Clause.”
The lawsuit goes on to say that the new requirements compel states to “divert their law enforcement resources away from core public safety missions to federal civil immigration enforcement and to stop operating any program that ‘benefits illegal immigrants or incentivizes illegal immigration.’”
Lawsuit against DOT.
In the lawsuit against DOT, the 20 Democrat-led states argue that the “Immigration Enforcement Condition” is unconstitutional because Congress never tied transportation funds to immigration policy, and that forcing states to either comply or lose critical infrastructure funding violates the separation of powers. They contend the condition is vague, unrelated to the purpose of the funding, and would force states to divert local resources to federal immigration duties or risk losing funds needed for roads, bridges, transit, and safety projects.
However, critics of the lawsuits argue that protecting Americans includes arresting and deporting criminal illegal immigrants involved in drug and human trafficking, child assault, rape, and even murder – and that states need to cooperate in Trump’s immigration enforcement. Yet these lawsuits suggest that Democratic attorneys general have different priorities and are willing to go against the federal laws and the president for political reasons.
Nessel’s priorities seem to be for foreigners, not Americans or Michiganders.
Let’s be clear: the Trump team isn’t saying no money. They’re saying no money unless the states help the federal government enforce the immigration laws already on the books. But in Nessel’s world, expecting states to cooperate on arresting and deporting illegal immigrant criminals is tyranny.
Nessel’s own press release shows that Michigan, for the record, has received over $771 million from the feds for transportation projects since 2021 – more than $521 million of which is still sitting unspent and ripe to be clawed back by the Trump administration. But instead of making sure the Manistee River Bridge doesn’t collapse or that River Raisin gets a functional I-75 interchange, Nessel is throwing taxpayer dollars at a lawsuit to prevent ICE from enforcing immigration laws. Her priorities are obvious – to continue to fight Trump and to protect illegal immigrants from being deported.
ICE continues to crack down on sanctuary cities.
Meanwhile, ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) is doing their job in Michigan and around the country. In recent enforcement operations reported by Just the News, ICE agents arrested several illegal immigrants with serious criminal histories in sanctuary cities, including Boston, Newark, and Philadelphia.
Among those detained were individuals previously convicted of violent crimes such as assault with a deadly weapon and aggravated sexual assault during a robbery. Assistant Homeland Secretary Tricia
McLaughlin criticized sanctuary city policies, stating they jeopardize public safety by hindering federal immigration enforcement efforts. She emphasized that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) will persist in apprehending and removing criminal illegal immigrants.
McLaughlin told Just the News in a statement, “Radical sanctuary politicians need to put the safety of the American people first – not criminal illegal aliens. No American wants criminal illegal aliens loose on America’s streets and neither should our leaders who represent them.”
Michigan is busy with immigration enforcement as well, including arresting Leocado Hernandez- Garcia in April of 2025 in Roscommon County. He was taken in custody and charged with five counts of criminal sexual conduct. Two additional unnamed illegal immigrants were apprehended during the sexual assault investigation and turned over to ICE.
So while ICE is busy rounding up dangerous illegal immigrant criminals who shouldn’t be here in the first place, Michigan’s top law enforcement official is busy rounding up lawsuits to protect them. Nessel’s current crusade against immigration enforcement makes it clear: fixing Michigan’s crumbling infrastructure can wait but defending the “rights” of criminal illegal immigrants apparently can’t.
