Key facts
- Senator Richard Blumenthal's staff review found roughly 75% of anti-trafficking grants unawarded over two fiscal years.
- More than $130 million for legal clinics, advocates and nonprofits has been delayed, per the report.
- The administration awarded about $30 million in delayed funds the week before the letter, per the report.
- Attorney General Todd Blanche told Congress combating trafficking is "a Department priority given the gravity of the harm it causes."
- The Justice Department and White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment, Reuters reported.
The US Justice Department has not awarded roughly 75% of congressionally appropriated anti-trafficking grants over the last two fiscal years, according to a letter from Senator Richard Blumenthal and a staff review shared with Reuters. The gap has held up more than $130 million for legal clinics, advocates and nonprofits, the report said.
In the letter, sent November 9 to Brecht Donoghue, director of the human trafficking division in the Justice Department's Office for Victims of Crime, Blumenthal asked for the money to be released and for a full accounting of what caused the backlog. By the staff review, more than half of fiscal year 2025 grants and all fiscal year 2026 grants had not been awarded.
Blumenthal, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said in an interview: "This money was appropriated, and they are illegally withholding it." He said he plans to press Arthur Kleinschmidt, the administration's nominee to lead the Office of Justice Programs, for a commitment to release the funds at a confirmation hearing on Tuesday.
The report said providers have closed legal services, laid off workers and turned children away, and that advocates and Democratic officials say aid to 10,000 survivors served by grantees each quarter has been disrupted. The Justice Department and White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment, the report said.
Attorney General Todd Blanche has told Congress that combating human trafficking is "a Department priority given the gravity of the harm it causes." President Donald Trump and department leaders have called the fight a domestic priority, and Alessandra Serano was appointed national coordinator for child exploitation and human trafficking, the report said.
The administration awarded roughly $30 million in delayed funds the previous week, the report said, with remaining money arriving months past initial target dates. Martina Vandenberg, president of the Human Trafficking Legal Center, said: "You can't just bring this type of work back."