Explaining DOJ funding gap for human trafficking survivor organizations

In December 2025, several widely circulated social media posts (archived, archived) claimed the U.S. Department of Justice had halted funding to organizations supporting survivors of human trafficking by letting funds expire without announcing new funding opportunities. "Over 100 nonprofits that support trafficking survivors are losing funding because the Justice Department is refusing to release about $90 million Congress already set aside," one post read (archived):

The claim stemmed from a Dec. 22, 2025, investigation by The Guardian (archived) that claimed more than 100 organizations lost funding in October 2025 without the DOJ having announced new grant competitions despite the appropriation of nearly $90 million to combatting human trafficking.

The DOJ released (archived) its fiscal year 2025 funding opportunities for organizations supporting sex trafficking survivors on Dec. 30, 2025, more than half a year later than usual — and months after the previous cycle's grants had expired. As a result, we've rated the claim that the DOJ let funding to these organizations expire before announcing new funding opportunities true.

We reached out to the DOJ seeking verification of The Guardian's findings, and a spokesperson did not deny the claim that organizations supporting trafficking survivors lost funding. The spokesperson responded, "The Department of Justice can remain focused on two critical priorities at the same time: support victims of human trafficking and prosecute criminals who exploit children, and ensure the efficient use of taxpayer dollars."

Background of the claim

The investigation was the latest in a series by The Guardian regarding President Donald Trump's administration's broader pattern of reducing efforts to combat human trafficking across the federal government.

Following these findings' publication, at least three senators publicly called on the Trump administration to restore funding to these organizations. Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich. — who sits on a Senate appropriations subcommittee that funds the Justice Department — said the Trump administration was illegally withholding resources approved by lawmakers, according to The Guardian.

The DOJ told Snopes via email on Dec. 29 that 2025 DOJ "grant funding opportunities" (NOFOs, or Notices of Funding Opportunity) would be rolled out by the DOJ's Office of Justice Programs "now and over the next few weeks," but that "organizations aren't entitled to new grant money because they were awarded DOJ grants in the past." The Guardian reported the same information in its Dec. 22 investigation, and noted the "statement was identical to one provided to the Guardian in September [2025], when last year's grants were about to expire."

According to the department, the money set aside by Congress would be spent on organizations that directly combat human trafficking and help trafficking victims. The department's full response read:

FY25 OVC [Office for Victims of Crime] grant funding opportunities are being rolled out by OJP now and over the next few weeks. Organizations aren't entitled to new grant money because they were awarded DOJ grants in the past. We will continue to receive and review all applications and make funding decisions based on which applicant(s) best serve the programs and Administration priorities articulated in the NOFOs. The money appropriated by Congress will be spent, and it will be awarded to organizations that directly combat human trafficking and help trafficking victims.   

Additionally, the Department has nine open OVW NOFO's through which an anticipated $128 million in grant funding will be issued. Additional NOFOs are forthcoming.

We followed up, seeking information regarding where the anticipated $128 million would come from and whether that money was specifically appropriated to supporting organizations combatting human trafficking, and we did not immediately receive a response.

We also reached out to several organizations named in The Guardian's investigation, including Life Link, Street Grace, the Reformed Church of Highland Park Affordable Housing Corp. in New Jersey and the YWCA in Kalamazoo, Michigan, seeking confirmation that they had not received any new funding or notice of funding opportunities from the DOJ, and whether — in their perspective — the DOJ's handling of fiscal year 2025 funding opportunities differed from previous years' grant cycles.

Delayed grant opportunity announcements

A spokesperson from the Reformed Church of Highland Park Affordable Housing Corp. responded that up until approximately Dec. 31, 2025, the DOJ had not sent out any requests for proposals. The spokesperson wrote via email:

Usually we would have seen an RFP [Request for Proposal] in March or April, with approvals over the summer. No such RFPs went out until something like December 31st [2025]. It is due this March [2026].

 

We are stumbling along right now, trying to say "yes" to as many cases as the FBI and others refer to us, but with very limited ORR [Office of Refugee Resettlement] funding through TVAP [Trafficking Victim Assistance Program] (that has been sliced by about 55%/case).

(ojp.gov)

The funding opportunities were labeled FY25, which was consistent with the spokesperson's account — funding competitions for 2023 opened in April 2023 and funding competitions for 2024 opened in March 2024, making 2025's funding opportunity announcements seven to eight months later than in recent years.

The Guardian's claim that Congress appropriated nearly $90 million "to support victims" is accurate; official government records for 2025 appropriations indicate Congress set aside $88 million for "victims of trafficking."