Justice Department cancels 365 grants for police, victims of crime

WASHINGTON >> The Justice Department has canceled hundreds of ongoing grants that funded everything from services for mental health care for police officers to support programs for victims of crime and sexual assault, according to internal records and four people familiar with the matter.

At least 365 grants from the Office of Justice Programs, the department’s largest grant-making arm, were terminated late Tuesday, said two of the people, who were granted anonymity to discuss details that have not been made public.

That office awarded $4.4 billion worth of grants in the fiscal year ended October 2023, according to the Justice Department’s website.

Reuters could not immediately determine a total dollar value for the canceled grants, though records indicate the cuts at a minimum of tens of millions of dollars. Several grant recipients contacted by Reuters said they plan to appeal the cuts.

Among the programs targeted in a partial list of terminated grants seen by Reuters were: grants that supported crime victims, including for transgender victims; hotlines used by crime victims; grants to fight human trafficking that have gone to organizations working with immigrants; programs to curb juvenile delinquency and safeguard incarcerated youth; and funding for state-run hate-crime reporting.

Attorney General Pam Bondi said the changes reflected the priorities of President Donald Trump’s administration.

“As a lifelong advocate for victims of crimes against women, I authorized the cancellation of grants for programs that do not align with the administration’s priorities but will continue to ensure that services for victims are not impacted,” Bondi said in a statement to Reuters.

Justice Department grants typically run for three years. New administrations often change the focus of grants awarded, the department seldom cuts off funding on previously awarded grants supporting ongoing programs.

The leaders of multiple groups whose grants were cut said the lost funding would take a toll on their programs.

The National Center for Victims of Crime said it lost nearly $3 million to fund crime-victim hotlines and initiatives to provide support and counseling, such as guidance on finding safe housing and referrals to victims’ compensation programs.

“The hotlines are going away,” its CEO Renee Williams said in an interview.

Richard Morales, executive director of the Latino Coalition for Community Leadership, which helps communities develop re-entry, crime prevention and health programs, said he was about to take off on an Oregon-bound flight on Tuesday when he learned the Justice Department had canceled two grants worth about $6 million.

The cuts will affect 22 organizations that work with the group across 10 states.

“Luckily the flight was delayed and the gate was still open,” he said in an interview.

‘YOU’RE ON YOUR OWN’

Jean Bruggeman, who leads the non-profit Freedom Network USA, which assists human trafficking victims, said abruptly canceling funding without warning could leave vulnerable victims of domestic abuse out on the streets without access to housing.

For instance, some grants on the list help fund pet-friendly housing assistance to domestic violence victims who might not be willing to leave their homes without their animals.

“We know that with domestic violence, it’s when survivors leave that the risk of mortality is the highest,” she said.

“We’ve told them you can trust us. We will protect you. Come forward. We will help you and protect you. And now, the government is saying thanks for coming forward. You’re on your own. We don’t care if you live or die.”

In an email sent to Office of Justice Programs staff on Tuesday, Deputy Assistant Attorney General Maureen Henneberg said that canceled grants “no longer support the department’s priorities.”

She added that the new funding priorities will focus on “certain law enforcement operations, combating violent crime, protecting American children, supporting American victims of trafficking and sexual assault, and promoting coordination of law enforcement efforts at all levels of government.”

A Justice Department official said the department carefully reviewed the grants to ensure victims services would not be affected, instead aiming at grants that funded what it considered to be ambiguous programs that did not directly help crime victims.

Many Justice Department employees who work on managing and awarding the grants did not learn about the cancellations until the grantees were notified on Tuesday, the people said.

The department’s Office of Community Oriented Policing Services, a separate grant-making office, has so far not been hit, one person familiar with the matter said today.

It was not immediately clear whether the Office of Violence Against Women, a third separate Justice Department grant-making office, was affected.