A coalition of more than 50 anti-trafficking organizations has sued the Trump administration, accusing it of unlawful censorship that undermines the fight against human trafficking. The groups argue that Trump’s ban on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts violate the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA).
“These policies silence survivors—and we will note self-censor,” said Karen Romero, co-executive director of Freedom Network USA, the coalition leading the lawsuit.
A gag order on justice
At the heart of the complaint are two executive orders issued in January that restrict how federally funded organizations discuss race, gender, and inequality. The Department of Justice (DoJ) has reportedly barred Freedom Network USA from using dozens of words—including “gender,” “race,” “ethnicity,” “accessibility,” and “fairness.” The organization relies on the DoJ for 70% of its funding.
Sabrina Talukder, an attorney at the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, called the restrictions a “major civil rights issue.” According to DoJ data, “40% of sex trafficking survivors in the US are Black women.” Many survivors are also immigrants or LGBTQ+ people, communities disproportionately vulnerable to trafficking.
The lawsuit contends that the creation of “forbidden terms” weakens anti-trafficking advocacy by erasing the systemic inequalities that drive exploitation. The Guardian reports that the complaint states,
“When it enacted the TVPA Congress specifically found ‘discrimination’ as a gap that traffickers exploit for their gain—but ‘discrimination’ is a forbidden term in the DoJ-issued list.”
Federal rollbacks and survivors left behind
The lawsuit follows a Guardian investigation revealing that the Trump administration rolled back anti-trafficking initiatives across several federal agencies.
Despite this record, Trump officials claim they “did everything possible to save child victims of human trafficking.” The White House said Trump “implemented tough-on-crime policies” to hold traffickers “accountable to the fullest extent of the law.”
On the ground, service providers saw the opposite. Hailey Virusso, director of anti-trafficking services at Preble Street in Maine, said her organization had to suspend emergency assistance. Virusso told the Guardian,
“When you’re turning away survivors of human trafficking, what does that mean for our values?” she asked. “This is not only an issue about Jeffrey Epstein.”
Further, millions of dollars allocated for trafficking survivors were never distributed. The DoJ even removed online resources like its Human Trafficking Action Research Toolkit, citing compliance with “recent executive orders.”
Now, the crisis continues. More than 3,000 survivors across the US are about to lose life-saving services unless the Department of Justice releases $88 million in grant funding already allocated under the TVPA. As Freedom United’s campaign, Tell the US Department of Justice: Survivors can’t wait, warns—this is preventable. The DoJ has the funds and the power to act. Survivors can’t afford silence, censorship, or delay. Take action to demand that the US government doesn’t turn their back on survivors.
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