The US Justice Department (DOJ) has delayed awarding more than $130 million in anti-trafficking grants that Congress approved over the last two fiscal years, according to a letter from Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal. Of that, $83 million is meant for victim service providers.
The DOJ missed its original October 1, 2025 deadline. It then promised awards by July 1, 2026, and missed that too. Earlier this month, it awarded roughly $30 million of the delayed funds. A DOJ official says the department expects to award the rest of the fiscal year 2025 grants soon.
These funds are crucial for legal clinics, advocates and nonprofits that support trafficking survivors. Some providers have had to make the difficult decision to cut services as they wait.
Survivors lose lifelines while decision makers stall
Blumenthal’s staff found more than half of the fiscal year 2025 grants and all fiscal year 2026 grants remain unawarded. Service providers have had to close legal services, cut staff, and limit or eliminate support services for survivors, including children. Advocates say the backlog disrupts support for 10,000 survivors each quarter.
Without emergency shelter, counseling, legal aid and job training, providers warn that survivors risk being re-trafficked.
Martina Vandenberg, president of the Human Trafficking Legal Center, warns:
“There were a lot of organizations that were hanging on by their fingernails hoping for the funds to be released. You can’t just bring this type of work back.”
Notably, the process itself has changed. Applications now face a political review for alignment with White House priorities, and the DOJ has eliminated independent outside peer review. Political officials now have more control over who receives funding.
Senator Blumenthal is livid. Reuters reports:
“It’s really sickening and outrageous to withhold this money,” said Blumenthal…”This money was appropriated, and they are illegally withholding it.”
Blumenthal is urging the release of the funds and demands a full explanation of the administrative backlog.
Repeated missed deadlines
The DOJ’s Office for Victims of Crime has historically awarded roughly $90 million a year in anti-trafficking grants, which run in three-year cycles beginning October 1. In August, it said it was in the “final stages” of choosing recipients, but no funds were released until early November.
The department expects to award the rest of the fiscal year 2025 grants in November and are reviewing more than 670 applications for fiscal year 2026, A DOJ official says.
A DOJ spokesperson called Blumenthal’s letter “politically motivated and deliberately deceptive” and said the department is carefully reviewing hundreds of applications. The spokesperson did not reply to questions about how the delay is impacting survivors.
Release the funds!
More than 100 victim service providers have cut services or closed their doors. More than 5,000 survivors have lost or risk losing lifesaving support.
Thousands of Freedom United supporters have already pushed the DOJ once, and their pressure helped open the funding process. Now survivors are waiting again.
Freedom United has partnered with Freedom Network USA again to demand that the DOJ immediately award the overdue fiscal year 2025 grants to experienced, survivor-centered organizations. We also demand that it make fiscal year 2026 decisions by the January 1, 2027 start date. Write to the DOJ and demand it release the funds now!
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