By Sarah N. Lynch and Peter Eisler
WASHINGTON, Dec 19 (Reuters) – The U.S. Justice Department faces a backlog of more than 170 appeals filed by law enforcement organizations and crime victim support groups seeking to restore grants that the Trump administration abruptly canceled earlier this year, a department spokesperson told Reuters.
The department in April gave grantees 30 days to appeal the terminations, and challenges ultimately were filed for 225 of the canceled grants. Of those, 17 were denied. Another 35 grants were restored, some after Reuters and other media outlets initially reported on the cuts in the spring, the spokesperson said.
“The Department is committed to fairly and thoroughly reviewing the materials submitted by grant recipients that appealed their terminations, and this multi-level review process takes time. Grantees are notified as soon as the Department reaches a final decision,” Natalie Baldassarre said.
In April, President Donald Trump’s Justice Department cut more than 350 grants that funded everything from community-based crime prevention programs with local police and prosecutors, to services for victims of crime and sexual violence and assistance for mental health or substance abuse problems. The grants were awarded during Democratic President Joe Biden’s administration, and were generally paid out over three years.
Historically, grant cancellations have been relatively rare and taken place only in cases where grantees mismanaged the funds or failed to meet the legal requirements. The sweeping cuts left organizations struggling to sustain programs or reimburse grantees for funds that were already spent. Justice Department officials have defended the cuts, saying they targeted programs that did not align with Trump administration priorities, such as directly assisting law enforcement and crime victims. Critics say the cuts make communities less safe.
“The DOJ cut off grant funding to organizations that were actively reducing violence, assisting victims and strengthening the justice system through expert technical assistance and research,” said Amy Solomon, the former assistant attorney general for the Office of Justice Programs. “These cuts – and the prolonged delays in resolving appeals that could restore funding – put life-saving services at risk and ultimately undermine the department’s core public safety mission.”
MONTHS WITHOUT AN ANSWER
For months, many organizations that appealed the terminations have been waiting to hear back from the department for a decision. In the interim, many have been forced to lay people off or cancel programs.
The Virginia-based National Organization for Victim Advocacy appealed in May, after losing an $860,000 grant that funded 15 college students across the United States who worked in shelters and centers that serve the victims of domestic and sexual violence.
The grant was designed to help inspire young people in underserved communities to explore careers in victim services. To this day, it has still not received a decision on its appeal, Executive Director Claire Ponder Selib said.
“We had to shut down the whole program,” Selib told Reuters. “For us the impact was both on the students … and then also on the agencies who were relying on them for services.”
“It was very complicated, and frankly, devastating.”
LAYOFF BEFORE GRANT RESTORED
Even for those whose appeals were sustained, the delays have taken a toll.
In mid-December, for instance, the National Association of VOCA Assistance Administrators received the good news that its $1.7 million three-year grant, which provided funding to help local organizations raise community awareness during National Crime Victims’ Rights Week, would be restored.
By then, however, the group had already laid off one of its employees because it could no longer pay her salary, said Executive Director Jaime Yahner.
Yahner said that while she is incredibly grateful her organization had its grant restored, she worries about other groups that are still waiting for news.
“I feel some survivor’s guilt,” she added.
The Justice Department has struggled since January to follow its usual grant-making schedule.
Not only did it cut prior awards – it has still failed to solicit applications for many new ones including some of its most popular programs like the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant program that funds police departments across the U.S.
To date, the Office of Justice Programs has posted only 36 solicitations out of 118 for fiscal year 2025, which ended on September 30, according to an email reviewed by Reuters.
The DOJ spokesperson said the department expects to publish the other solicitations soon.
The Justice Department also has previously used some of its grant funds to pay for other expenses. Earlier this year, it informed Congress it would be using more than $100 million in grant funds to pay for things such as security enhancements at the department’s main building and for costs incurred from Trump’s crackdown on crime in Washington, according to government documents seen by Reuters and a letter released by Senator Chris Van Hollen, a Democrat from Maryland.
(Reporting by Sarah N. Lynch and Peter Eisler in Washington; Editing by Scott Malone and Matthew Lewis)
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