The Trump administration is hollowing out the United States’ anti-trafficking capacity at home and abroad. From cutting international programs to sidelining domestic investigators, the moves amount to a systematic retreat from commitments to prevent trafficking, support survivors, and hold perpetrators accountable. With a crucial October 1 funding deadline approaching, the very organizations that provide lifesaving services to survivors could soon be left without resources.
Global and domestic retreat
The administration has terminated 69 international programs focused on anti-trafficking and labor rights. These initiatives, often partnerships with frontline organizations overseas, prevented exploitation before it took root. Their elimination creates gaps across global supply chains and weakens the US’s role as an international partner in combating trafficking.
Domestically, Homeland Security has reassigned investigators who once pursued traffickers to focus on deportations. Experts warn that such a shift elevates immigration enforcement above trafficking investigations, pushing people into more precarious circumstances and increasing their risk of exploitation.
Survivors themselves are also being deported, treated as immigration cases rather than trafficking victims. This cuts them off from protection and returning them to danger. Unaccompanied and migrant children are among those left most at risk.
TIP report delayed for first time in 20 years
Meanwhile, the State Department’s Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons has been gutted, and the legally mandated Trafficking in Persons (TIP) report — long regarded as the world’s most influential anti-trafficking accountability tool — has been withheld. Blocking the report undermines US credibility and signals that scrutiny of traffickers and exploitative employers is waning.
The Guardian reports,
It’s been a widespread and multi-pronged attack on survivors that leaves all of us less safe and leaves survivors with few options,” said Jean Bruggeman, executive director of Freedom Network USA, a national coalition of service providers, researchers and trafficking survivors.
Beth Van Schaack, former ambassador-at-large for global criminal justice, warns, “the reality is that perpetrators will go free.” She said it could take years to rebuild lost expertise.
Survivors at risk
Even as vulnerabilities increase, the Department of Justice has failed to release funds Congress already approved for survivor services. These grants keep shelters open, provide legal assistance, and ensure emergency housing and counseling are available. If the funds are not released by October 1, they expire, leaving frontline organizations scrambling to plan for an uncertain future.
The combined effect is devastating: more people exposed to trafficking while the very services designed to protect survivors are in limbo. This two-sided attack erodes trust, undermines years of progress, and signals to traffickers that accountability is no longer a priority. Survivors therefore have fewer options at precisely the moment demand for services is rising.
Freedom United, alongside our partners at Freedom Network USA, is calling for urgent action with a new campaign. We’re calling on the Department of Justice to release the service funds before the October 1 deadline. Public pressure is essential to ensure protections remain in place. Join us today to tell the administration to release the funds and keep survivors safe.
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