Attorney General Ellison defends critical services for sexual assault and domestic violence survivors

November 24, 2025 (SAINT PAUL) — Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison today secured an agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) ensuring the DOJ will not apply alarming restrictions to critical Victims of Crime Act (VOCA) and Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) services supporting survivors of sexual assault and domestic violence. Last month, Attorney General Ellison and a coalition of 20 other attorneys general sued the DOJ over unlawful new conditions that threatened to cut off critical legal services for survivors who could not immediately prove their immigration status. As a result of the lawsuit, the DOJ reversed course and today agreed to a binding resolution guaranteeing the federal government will not apply the restrictions to states’ VOCA Victim Assistance and VAWA funds and ensuring that survivors can continue to rely on these crucial supports, regardless of immigration status. 

“Today’s agreement ensures that crime victims who cannot immediately prove their immigration status will continue to receive essential support, including emergency shelter, help applying for protective orders, and so much more,” said Attorney General Ellison. “Often times, survivors of domestic violence or human trafficking lack access to documentation proving their citizenship, and criminals often withhold access to those documents as a means of continuing their abuse. Furthermore, public safety is improved for all of us when all crime victims are able to report those crimes and seek assistance, no matter their immigration status. While I am glad that we reached this agreement with the Department of Justice, it is sad that such an agreement was necessary in the first place. I will do everything I can to continue defending essential resources for crime victims, improve public safety, and defend the rule of law.”

For decades, the VAWA and VOCA programs have enabled states to support survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, human trafficking, and other violent crimes. These grants fund services such as legal representation for protective orders, custody and visitation matters, child support, housing and relocation assistance, and civil legal assistance that helps survivors escape abuse and rebuild their lives. VAWA also funds rape crisis centers that provide urgent support to victims of sexual assault. Congress deliberately designed these programs to reach every eligible survivor, regardless of immigration status, because public safety depends on ensuring that all victims can seek help, report crimes, and rebuild their lives without fear. 

In the past four years, Minnesota was awarded over $87 million in victim assistance and compensation grants and funding under VOCA. In fiscal year 2024, VOCA funds in Minnesota were used to serve roughly 64,000 individuals, all of whom were either crime victims or witnesses, or family members. The services provided to these individuals are important to their safety and recovery after a crime. Through these funds, survivors are provided services including safety planning, crisis intervention, emergency shelter, assistance applying for protective orders, safe housing, transportation, help accessing financial assistance, court-related support, accompaniment to hearings and appointments, support groups, and more.

In October, the coalition filed a lawsuit after the DOJ informed states that they could no longer use VAWA or VOCA funding to provide legal services to undocumented immigrants. The new “Legal Services Condition” applied not only to future awards, but also to grants that had already been issued, some dating back years. The attorneys general warned that the restriction would impose severe burdens on service providers, who do not collect or verify immigration status, and that forcing survivors to produce proof of status before receiving help would be dangerous and potentially impossible. 

As a result of the attorneys general’s lawsuit, the DOJ has now agreed that the challenged restriction cannot and will not be applied to any current VOCA Victim Assistance or VAWA grant awards. Based on this binding stipulation, Attorney General Ellison and the coalition are voluntarily dismissing their lawsuit without prejudice, preserving the ability to refile if the DOJ attempts to revive this unlawful restriction in the future. 

Joining Attorney General Ellison in this stipulation are the attorneys general of Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Vermont, Rhode Island, Washington, and the District of Columbia.