Justice Department halts funds for programs for victims of hate crimes, child abuse, school violence and more
CBS News has obtained a list of 365 federal grant programs halted this week by the Justice Department, disrupting programs to help victims of hate crime and sex trafficking, children who've suffered violence, and refugees.
The department also paused programs aimed at reducing school shootings, efforts to combat domestic terror and an Emmett Till cold case initiative in the Southeast.
At least some of the grants were halted in memos sent Tuesday to nonprofit organizations by the Justice Department. The memos alerted program operators that the projects no longer "effectuate" Justice Department priorities. The cancellation of the federal grants caused disruptions at some nonprofit programs, according to organization leaders who spoke with CBS News.
The head of a nonprofit that helps youth crime victims in Oakland, California, called the funding freeze a "devastating blow."
Nancy Smith told CBS News she made plans to lay off 10 employees from her national "Activating Change" nonprofit, which helps provide sign language interpreters and legal aid to crime victims with disabilities and hearing impairments. Smith said 40% of her budget disappeared overnight.
The list was provided by a federal source with oversight over the agency's funding of federal grant programs.
Programs halted by Justice Department
Obtained by CBS News
The Justice Department told CBS News at least two of the grant funds, however, for the National Center for Victims of Crime in Maryland and The National Network to End Domestic Violence in Washington, D.C., have been restored since last week's memo was sent.
The National Center for Victims of Crime, in Landover, Maryland, warned CBS News on Thursday that it planned to shutter its national crime victims hotline because of the cancellation of its Justice Department grant. The hotline receives approximately 16,000 calls from crime victims every year. But one day after a CBS News report about the prospect that the hotline would be shuttered, the organization's director notified CBS News that the Justice Department restored the grant money.
A Justice Department spokesperson told CBS News the organizations that have lost their grant funding awards will have 30 days to appeal the decision.
"We are confident that these cuts are consistent with the administration's priorities while at the same time protecting services that tangibly impact victims," the spokesperson said.
The list of 365 grant programs notified of grant cancellations includes a broad array of initiatives to help crime victims and prevent violence.
The impacted organizations include a San Francisco-based organization that seeks to reduce hate crimes against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, a New York organization that works to reduce school shootings, the "Emmett Till cold case investigations and prosecution program" in New Orleans, the "Matthew Shepard and James Byrd hate crimes training and technical assistance" initiative for crime reduction in Florida, a Michigan group that supports re-entry for young offenders and a Virginia group that helps human trafficking and sex victims.
Renee Williams, the executive director of the National Center for Victims of Crime, said she's grateful the Justice Department restored her grant funding, but told CBS News "our partners are still battling." Williams said the organization's crime victim hotline is a critical tool for those who suffer violence. Williams told CBS News, "After calling us, countless victims indicated that they had nowhere else to turn, but found hope, help, and comfort from our services."
Joe Griffin, executive of director of California-based Youth Alive! told CBS News the interruption of his group's federal grant would have a devastating impact on community initiatives.
"To do this ahead of summer, when we know there will likely be an uptick in violence, is really troubling," Griffin said. "We need our government to show up for our young people the way we do—every day, without fail."
Other projects that were notified of terminations of their federal grants include the following:
A Memphis, Tennessee, group that helps provide victims advocacy and support for non-English speaking crime victims
An Atlanta project that supports crime victims under the age of 18
A Bronx, N.Y. initiative to prevent overdoses
A Chicago-based study of elder-abuse victims
A Florida project to help ensure the safety of correctional officers
A Virginia-based project to help human trafficking victims.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
18 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Woman detained by ICE in CT city, two young children allegedly left terrified in car
New Haven Mayor Justin Elicker confirmed Wednesday that the New Haven Police Department was told that a woman from the Hill neighborhood of the city was arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Elicker said they are trying to confirm that the woman was with her two children, ages 13 and 8, when the arrest by ICE occurred. 'If that is true…that is deplorable and inhumane,' Elicker said. Elicker said he has two children about those ages, who would 'lose their minds' if they saw their mother arrested in such a way. It would be 'beyond the pale,' he said. He said he was told she was getting the kids ready to go to school when the arrest occurred. Further, Elicker said, ICE did not inform the city or the Police Department that the arrest would take place, which 'creates a danger' for her, police and ICE, because the arrest could be seen as an abduction by those who did not know what was occurring. 'It puts our officers and ICE at risk,' he said. Elicker, who did not name the woman, said she had been charged in March with third-degree assault following a conflict in which she and another person suffered minor injuries. He said the case remains pending. John Lugo, an organizer with New Haven-based Unidad Latina en Accion, said the woman was taken around 8:15 a.m. on Monday morning with her two children in her car. 'The woman was taken and detained and her two traumatized children remained in the car,' Lugo said. Lugo said one of the children is autistic and keeps asking for his mother. 'He wants his mom but there is no mom. Mom is sitting in jail,' Lugo said. Lugo said both children are staying with a grandmother in the state. The grandmother is visiting from Mexico but the length of her stay in the U.S. is unclear, so Lugo and his organization are worried about the future of the children once she goes back to Mexico. CT high school's joy in graduation dimmed by classmate taken by ICE. Town hopes to get him back. Lugo said the best way the public can help is money for legal representation. He said the detained woman does not have a lawyer at this time and that all other state detainees end up in Texas. He's waiting to see if she ends up transferred to Texas, which he said would only add to the financial burden. 'That's one way to punish migrants when you have to transfer someone so far away. Being in Texas adds an additional cost. Now they need a lawyer to travel there because sometimes they aren't allowed to have video conferences,' Lugo said. Lugo said since last week there have been more people being detained without any history of felonies. 'The perfect example was the Southington car wash incident,' Lugo said. 'They were just profiled. They drove by and saw a bunch of migrants and decided to stop and detained them. That happened the same day as what happened to the women in New Haven.' 'In Southington, they just detained four people because they looked like migrants. They weren't looking for a particular person. I think it's very troubling and the hard part is seeing the kids crying and being traumatized,' he added. 'Due process is not there anymore.' The reason for the Southington arrest has not been confirmed by authorities. Lugo said since the start of President Donald Trump's second term, people in his community are scared. 'They are trying to figure out what to do. Many are thinking about going back to their country because this is not a safe place anymore,' Lugo said. 'It's not just the government. We see other kids at school threatening to call ICE on classmates and parents. We see landlords taking advantage. They are raising the rent and are getting them evicted. The first threat by many is: if you don't move, 'I will call ICE.'' 'I have two cases in which New Haven restaurant bosses that have told workers if you don't stop complaining about wages or raises, I'm going to call immigration on you guys. It's not just the government. This is empowering people to hate people and hate us.' Lugo said he fears that ICE is expanding and that he knows of an office that has opened in New Haven. 'We think eventually they are going to hit us hard in Connecticut just because they want to punish the state because the state has taken a stance on behalf of the migrant community,' Lugo said. The Southington and New Haven detainments by ICE are all on the heels of a Meriden high school student and his father being detained last week.
Yahoo
18 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Man convicted of fraud for posing as flight attendant to fly for free
(CNN) – A man accused of falsely posing as a flight attendant to reap dozens of free flights has been convicted of wire fraud and fraudulently entering the secure area of an airport. Tiron Alexander, 35, was found guilty by a federal jury after taking 34 free flights that he obtained by pretending to be a flight attendant or a pilot, the U.S. District Attorney in Southern Florida said in a news release Tuesday. He was also convicted of entering the secure area at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport under false pretenses, authorities said. The man was employed by an unidentified airline based in Dallas beginning in 2015, court documents said, but not as a pilot or a flight attendant. The scheme to obtain free tickets, for a Florida-based airline, began in 2018 and continued until 2024, according to court documents. Alexander was indicted on these charges in Florida. He was arrested in California in February. The tickets Alexander secured are reserved for flight attendants and pilots. Free flights are among the top perks of working as a pilot or flight attendant. The benefit is based on seniority and tenure. Using the airlines' online ticketing systems, Alexander claimed to have worked intermittently for seven different carriers, according to the prosecutors' news release. He was convicted of four counts of wire fraud and one count of falsely entering the airport's secure area. Alexander was represented by attorneys in the public defender's office in Miami. CNN has reached out to them for comment. Authorities allege Alexander had booked more than 100 flights by falsely posing as a flight attendant. Alexander will be sentenced in August. He faces up to 20 years in prison for the wire fraud counts and up to 10 years for entering the airport's secure area, according to the indictment.
Yahoo
18 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Louisville did not delay police reform order, say mayor, chief in response to criticism
Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg talks with attendees of The Louisville Forum at Vincenzo's in downtown Louisville. June 11, 2025. (Kentucky Lantern photo by Sarah Ladd) LOUISVILLE — Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg and Louisville Police Chief Paul Humphrey said the city should not be blamed for delaying a court order to correct civil rights abuses by Louisville police and to reform the department. During the monthly meeting of The Louisville Forum Wednesday, Humphrey pointed to federal 'bureaucracy' while Greenberg acknowledged that 'a lot of people … think that our administration and the LMPD was the reason' a consent decree mandating police reforms was not signed before the Republican Trump administration killed the agreement as expected. The mayor insisted that is not the case. Responding to an audience question, Greenberg told the gathering that it took more than 11 months for the Justice Department under Democratic President Joe Biden to get the city a draft agreement after then-Attorney General Merrick Garland came to Kentucky in 2023 to discuss the police department's civil rights violations. Greenberg said the city at that time offered to provide an initial draft of a consent decree. 'They insisted that they would provide us with the first draft. Notwithstanding our weekly requests (of) when that draft was coming, we got the first draft of the consent decree 11 and a half months later,' Greenberg said. 'So we waited basically a year to see a first draft of the consent decree after Attorney General Garland came to our city.' Trump Justice Department moves to end consent decree aimed at reforming policing in Louisville The agreement was announced in December 2024, the month before President Donald Trump was inaugurated for his second term. In May, the Trump administration's U.S. Department of Justice pulled back from the consent decree, saying such actions are 'handcuffing local leaders.' The consent decree came in response to the 2020 police killing of Breonna Taylor, an unarmed Black woman, and a subsequent federal investigation that exposed a pattern of constitutional violations by Louisville police. Taylor's mother criticized the mayor, Louisville Public Media reported in May, accusing him of 'dragging his feet' on the issue. Louisville Metro Council member J.P. Lyninger, a Democrat, also has voiced disappointment with Democrat Greenberg's administration. 'The findings were announced two years ago,' he told Louisville Public Media last month. 'If we had more speedily entered into agreement with the Department of Justice, this would already be on the books and we wouldn't be talking about this today.' A consent decree is a negotiated agreement that avoids a trial by spelling out requirements that a federal judge signs and enforces. On Wednesday, Greenberg said, 'Louisville Metro government was not the reason why this took time.' Instead, he said, the police department and city had 'worked day and night with getting this done as their primary focus.' Humphrey agreed, saying there are 'a lot of things that could be improved about that process' at the federal level to expedite the consent decree process. The federal government, Humphrey said, was 'more concerned with protecting the case than they were with improving the police department.' On the same day the Trump administration moved to let LMPD off the hook for reform, Greenberg and Humphrey announced the city would move forward with its own Community Commitment, a 214-page handbook with goals similar to those outlined in the proposed consent decree. 'If we were using delay as a negotiating tactic, we would not have voluntarily signed the community commitment within hours of the Department of Justice announcing they were dropping the case,' Greenberg said at the Louisville Forum. 'It would have been a very different response.' Under the Community Commitment, the city will issue a request for proposals (RFP) seeking candidates to fill the role of an independent monitor. The public will be able to weigh in on monitor candidates via an online survey and at community listening sessions. The independent monitor will cost Louisville around $750,000, Greenberg said, and will have a five-year contract. 'We have our community commitment that we're moving forward with, and so … looking back at what the federal government did or didn't do is a waste of time, in all honesty,' Humphrey said. 'Let's move forward and … make this community better.' The city has several listening sessions already scheduled where the public can weigh in on reforms. 'I encourage you to be a part of the solution,' Greenberg said. 'It's very easy to criticize, it's very easy to observe and talk to friends. We want (people) across the community to be a part of the solution.' SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
