WISCONSIN (CBS 58) — A federal judge has blocked the Trump administration from requiring states to comply with certain immigration-enforcement conditions in order to receive federal public safety grants, a ruling affecting millions of dollars in funding for Wisconsin.

Chief U.S. District Judge John J. McConnell Jr. of Rhode Island ruled that the U.S. Department of Justice did not have the authority to impose the challenged conditions on certain congressionally authorized grant programs.

The conditions required grant recipients to cooperate with aspects of federal immigration enforcement, including providing federal authorities access to certain detained immigrants and notifying the Department of Homeland Security before some individuals were released from custody.

The Trump administration has argued that state and local governments receiving federal funding should not adopt policies that impede enforcement of federal immigration laws. The Justice Department has said so-called sanctuary policies can interfere with federal law enforcement and threaten public safety.

Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul was among a coalition of state officials who challenged the grant conditions in court.

"This is good news for public safety in Wisconsin," Kaul said. "The Trump administration shouldn't have tried to force states to choose between funding that benefits public safety and complying with unlawful conditions."

The latest ruling applies to funding through the Byrne State Crisis Intervention Program and grants administered by the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention.

Wisconsin officials said the state was at risk of losing approximately $2.1 million through the Byrne State Crisis Intervention Program and more than $800,000 through juvenile justice grants.

The state was also at risk of losing a $3.2 million Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant. Similar immigration-related conditions on Byrne JAG funding had previously been blocked by an earlier court order.

Altogether, Wisconsin officials said more than $6 million in public safety funding was affected by the disputed conditions.

The legal challenge began in 2025 over immigration-related requirements attached to Victims of Crime Act funding.

Wisconsin and other states argued that Congress had established the grants through formulas and other statutory requirements that did not give the Justice Department authority to add the immigration conditions.

The federal government later removed the disputed conditions from more than $1.3 billion in Victims of Crime Act funding nationwide.

Similar requirements were later applied to other federal law enforcement and juvenile justice grants, leading the coalition to expand its lawsuit.

McConnell sided with the states, ruling that the Justice Department exceeded its authority by attaching the challenged requirements to the grants and permanently barring their enforcement for the programs at issue.

The Justice Department did not immediately comment on the ruling.

Wisconsin joined attorneys general from more than 20 other states and the District of Columbia in the lawsuit, along with Pennsylvania's governor.