Criminal Justice
DOJ dropped over 23K criminal investigations in shift to immigration
The U.S. Department of Justice closed more than 23,000 criminal cases in the first six months of President Donald Trump’s second administration as it shifted its resources to immigration. (Photo by Kevin Lamarque/Reuters)
The U.S. Department of Justice closed more than 23,000 criminal cases in the first six months of President Donald Trump’s second administration as it shifted its resources to immigration.
In closing cases without prosecution, the DOJ abandoned hundreds of investigations into terrorism, white-collar crime, drugs and other potential crimes, according to a story by ProPublica.
The majority of the cases had been referred to the DOJ by law enforcement agencies under prior administrations that thought that a federal crime may have been committed.
The DOJ under normal circumstances routinely declines to prosecute cases for a variety of reasons, including insufficient evidence or because the case is not deemed a priority for enforcement. But the number of cases closed under U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi is a significant change from the Biden administration and Trump’s first term, according to the ProPublica analysis.
ProPublica examined two decades of DOJ data, including the first six months of Trump’s second term, for the report.
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