'Disheartening': US justice department slashes funding to programs combating child sex trafficking

Source: The Guardian

Sat 24 Jan 2026 07.00 EST
Last modified on Sat 24 Jan 2026 07.02 EST


The US Department of Justice has slashed funding and training resources for law enforcement working on investigations and prosecutions of sex crimes against children under the Trump administration, which limits their ability to carry out this work.

Major cuts include the cancelation of 2025 National Law Enforcement Training on Child Exploitation, due to be held in Washington DC in June. The conference is an annual event that provides technical training to prosecutors, state and federal law enforcement officers on investigating online crimes against children.

The sweeping cuts, enacted soon after Donald Trump began his second term as US president, are putting vulnerable children at risk and impeding efforts to bring child predators to justice, according to four prosecutors and law enforcement officers specializing in cases of child sexual exploitation, speaking on the condition of anonymity.

“You don’t want to speak too loudly, because you just fear retaliation, and that’s a heavy hand to be dealt when you’re just trying to do your job,” one prosecutor said. Previous Guardian investigative reports have revealed that the Trump administration has aggressively rolled back efforts to combat human trafficking, including sex trafficking, and cut funding to support survivors of these crimes.

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jan/24/justice-department-cuts-child-sex-trafficking