The first month of the new Administration has brought immense challenges to providing human trafficking survivors with lifesaving support and preventing exploitation. Survivors depend on a wide array of federally funded services both during and after exploitation. Access to food, housing, childcare, education, and financial assistance enables survivors to escape traffickers and build a safer life for themselves and their children. This safety also enables survivors to collaborate with law enforcement, providing the information and testimony needed to hold traffickers accountable. For the past month, these lifelines have been shaky at best. Some have disappeared entirely. When these services are unavailable, survivors are forced into precarious situations and are more likely to experience abuse and trafficking again. They stay in trafficking situations longer. They cannot cooperate with law enforcement when they want to, leaving traffickers free to abuse and exploit with impunity. Threats to these programs create direct threats to victims’ and survivors’ lives.
Since January 20, 2025, program shutdowns, delays in fund disbursements, closing of federal agencies and offices, and censoring of content have put human trafficking survivors and their families in danger. These are some key federal actions that have resulted in thousands of survivors losing access to lifesaving and life-changing services:
- USDOJ Office for Victims of Crime threatened to halt grant funding for both US citizen and foreign national survivors due to the Executive Orders and OMB Memo. In response, providers have furloughed staff, stopped hiring for open positions, and reduced services in anticipation of a halt in funding.
- USDOJ Office for Victims of Crime is conducting an ongoing review of programs for compliance with the various Executive Orders. Some providers have been directed to erase LGBTQIA people from their outreach and education work. All grantees face an uncertain future.
- USHHS Office on Trafficking in Persons halted funding for trafficking victim services, even before the OMB Memo was sent and persisted for multiple weeks after the memo was revoked. The basis for the funding pause is unclear. In response, providers have furloughed staff, stopped hiring for open positions, and reduced services. This has resulted in a loss of trust with survivors and gaps in crisis services across the country.
- USDOJ issued stop work orders and halted funding for programs assisting immigrants to navigate the immigration courts. This resulted in the loss of services for thousands of survivors who experienced trafficking on US soil.
- USAID and the Department of State issued stop work orders for international aid programs. This has left survivors around the world without safe housing, protection, health and mental healthcare, and food. Trafficking survivors in the US have been unable to reunite with their families abroad, including family members under threat of retaliation from the trafficker, due to shutdowns of reunification programs. Trafficking survivors serving as subject matter experts in US programs have lost their income and are facing homelessness.
- USHHS Office on Refugee Resettlement issued stop work orders for programs serving unaccompanied immigrant children in the US. Without proper screening and legal representation, these children are at high risk of abuse and exploitation and have limited or no access to services and support.
- The Department of State has announced that it will remove LGBTQIA victims and survivors from its annual Trafficking in Persons report (which evaluates how well countries address trafficking). Erasing information about LGBTQIA survivors does not erase their exploitation, it only increases their vulnerability and decreases the likelihood they will be identified and offered lifesaving services.
- The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) was shut down. The CFPB implements the credit repair law for trafficking survivors (the Debt Bondage Relief Act). Without the CFPB, survivors will not be able to repair the damage that the traffickers have done to their credit, leaving them unable to access safe housing, employment, and education.
- The National Institutes of Health, Department of Justice, Department of Education, and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have cut and/or threatened to cut funding for research into human trafficking prevention, best practices for victim services, and the effectiveness of law enforcement interventions. Without evidence, services will be less effective, funds and resources will be wasted, and survivors will be denied effective support.
- Resources have been removed from US Government websites including the Human Trafficking Task Force eGuide, child victim support graphic novels, data analysis of human trafficking victim services, and much more. Law enforcement, prosecutors, and community groups rely on these resources to ensure that trafficking services are effective, comprehensive, and collaborative. They provide critical outreach and education tools to help survivors report their victimization, get the help they need, and cooperate with law enforcement and prosecution.
For almost 25 years, the US Government has ensured consistent funding for services for human trafficking survivors across the country and internationally in accordance with the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act of 2000. The reckless disregard shown for these Congressionally mandated and funded programs endangers survivors, empowers traffickers, and makes everyone more vulnerable to exploitation. This Administration has so far shown it is willing to dismantle decades of investment into opportunities for survivors to safely leave trafficking situations and prevent re-exploitation.
FNUSA will continue to challenge harmful actions taken against human trafficking survivors and that put survivors at risk. Defending the human rights of all is the only way to prevent and address human trafficking. We will stand with all survivors, and will not give in to attacks on their rights to live safely in the US.