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When the Trump administration moved to cancel about half a billion dollars in grants from the Department of Justice, they said the programs did not align with the administration's priorities. Organizations across the country say those dollars helped support crime survivors, reduce street violence, assist police and prosecutors, and protect children. Marisa Lagos from member station KQED in San Francisco tells us about one of those programs.
MARISA LAGOS, BYLINE: Federal funding helped the Asian Women's Shelter in San Francisco create a program to serve Arab and Muslim victims of domestic violence and human trafficking, like this woman who came to the United States in 2017 after marrying her husband in their home country in the Middle East.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: I left everything. Everything. My family. I was working in my country. I had a life in my country. So I left everything for him and for the family.
LAGOS: She had one baby, then became pregnant with their second in the U.S. But after arriving in California, she says, he began to physically abuse her.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: He is not the guy I married in my country.
LAGOS: She asked that NPR not use her name or home country because she is a survivor of abuse and still worries for her safety. She says she tried to get help at her mosque and from the police. Nothing changed. So in 2019, she called the Asian Women's Shelter, but it would take two years for her to get the courage to leave. When she finally did...
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: They helped me to get an apartment. They helped me with - to find schools for the kids. Lately, I got my driver's license.
LAGOS: If not for the shelter, she says...
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: Either I'm in a hospital or I'm dead.
LAGOS: The program is one of 373 across the nation that received a letter in April informing them they were losing a federal grant from the Department of Justice. The letter stated that the program no longer lines up with agency priorities, including supporting law enforcement operations, protecting American children and supporting American victims of trafficking and sexual assault. Here's President Trump at a March speech at the Department of Justice.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: We want to protect Americans, and we protect everybody that's in our country, American or not American. We want to have a safe and proud country.
LAGOS: In a written statement to NPR, the Justice Department reiterated its commitment to agency priorities but didn't answer questions about why organizations like the Asian Women's Shelter were cut. But California Attorney General Rob Bonta insists it's clear the programs are losing funds because of who they serve - communities of color and immigrants.
ROB BONTA: I think they're unapologetically transparent about that. This is just political targeting, and they don't actually look at the substance of what the program does. They just look at the name, and they make a decision based on that.
LAGOS: In all, the canceled grants nationally add up to about half a billion dollars, according to an analysis by the Council on Criminal Justice. That money benefited a wide range of programs. In addition to serving crime survivors, other grantees focused on reducing street violence, assisting police and prosecutors, and protecting children. The cuts make up a small but significant slice of the more than 14,000 grants DOJ has awarded nationally since 2021, totaling more than $15 billion. The states receiving the most money during that period were California and Texas. Even those who have called for more oversight of these grant funds say they're troubled by the cuts. Retired Los Angeles Police Department Deputy Chief Phil Tingirides agrees, there should be more accountability to ensure that these public funds are being used properly.
PHIL TINGIRIDES: I think it's something that has to be highly regulated, highly monitored to make sure that the money is going to a useful purpose, to the right purpose.
LAGOS: But, he says, that thoughtful review process does not appear to be happening, at least not yet. Several organizations have filed a class-action lawsuit alleging that the grant changes are unconstitutional. Other groups like the Asian Women's Shelter are also appealing the cuts through a process set out by DOJ. The woman who found help at the Asian Women's Shelter says she's trying to look ahead and has dreams for her children.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: I want them to be free. I want to be free, too. I want them to visit the world. I want to take them everywhere.
LAGOS: Her divorce proceedings are ongoing, and anytime she needs support, someone from the Asian Women's Shelter is there beside her in court. For NPR News, I'm Marisa Lagos in San Francisco. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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