The Department of Justice's Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant Program gives over $250 million a year of grant money to state and local governments to deal with criminal justice.
In 2017, President Trump decided some cities / states didn't deserve their share of this grant money, because they declared themselves a 'sanctuary city / state,' whose policy forbids local law enforcement from honoring requests from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to be informed when an illegal immigrant in custody was about to be released, so ICE could pick them up and move forward with deportation proceedings. So, the administration decided to deny those sanctuary states the grant money.
As you can imagine, those sanctuary states were not happy with that decision, so they filed a lawsuit, and initally, they won, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York ordered the administration to release the money to those states.
Well, the Trump administration appealed that decision, and today, the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals made their decision, and it went the president's way.
The appeals court overturned the lower court's ruling, saying that the administration CAN deny grant money to states that refuse to cooperate with federal immigration authorities. According to Fox News, a spokesman for the Department of Justice said:
"Today's decision rightfully recognizes the lawful authority of the Attorney General to ensure that Department of Justice grant recipients are not at the same time thwarting federal law enforcement priorities. The grant conditions here require states and cities that receive DOJ grants to share information about criminals in custody. The federal government uses this information to enforce national immigration laws, policies supported by successive Democrat and Republican administrations. All Americans will benefit from increased public safety as this Adminitration is able to implement its lawful immigration and public safety policies."
But it may not be over. Experts say this will definitely go to the Supreme Court for review.
Meanwhile, the Trump administration has asked Congress to pass new legislation that would allow victims of crime committed by illegal immigrants to sue sanctuary cities and states for damages.