The New York Attorney General and a coalition of 20 Democratic states sued the Department of Justice (DOJ) Wednesday for withholding federally funded services from domestic violence survivors who cannot verify their immigration status.

After receiving an initial email on August 18, plaintiff states alleged that on September 15 they received another email notifying them of an update to the DOJ Grants Financial Guide , which mandated that:

Except as indicated in the following sentence, costs of providing legal services (that is, professional services of the kind lawfully provided only by individuals licensed to practice law) to any removable alien (see 8 U.S.C. § 1229a(e)(2) ) or any alien otherwise unlawfully present in the United States are disallowed and may not be charged against

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