Stop AAPI Hate sues DOJ over termination of $810M worth of grants

by Akemi Tamanaha

In April, the Department of Justice terminated $810 million worth of federal public safety grants awarded to around 360 organizations. Stop AAPI Hate, an organization created to combat anti-Asian racism, is fighting back. 

Stop AAPI Hate is one of five leading plaintiffs in a lawsuit filed against the Justice Department. Vera Institute of Justice, et al. v. United States Department of Justice, et al. claims that the Justice Department’s termination of the grants is illegal.

The lawsuit argues that organizations were not given due process to challenge the terminations. It also claims that the Justice Department lacks the constitutional and regulatory authority to terminate grants that were approved by Congress. 

The other four leading plaintiffs in the lawsuit are: the Vera Institute of Justice, the Children and Youth Justice Center, FORCE Detroit and Health Resources in Action. Together, they are representing over 200 organizations that had their grants terminated.

The plaintiffs are asking for a preliminary injunction to prevent the Justice Department from fully executing the termination of the grants. 

Cynthia Choi, co-founder of Stop AAPI, told AsAmNews that her organization learned its $2 million grant was terminated on April 22. 

Stop AAPI was founded in 2020 in response to a sharp increase in anti-Asian hate during the COVID-19 pandemic. Since its inception, it has documented and researched thousands of anti-Asian incidents, proposing solutions to combat the increase in hate.

Choi says the organization planned to put the grant money towards: “real time collection and analysis of hate incidents, developing culturally responsive care, addressing public transit safety, and do important research.” It would have also helped Stop AAPI Hate provide “technical assistance to lawmaker, other researchers and community partners.”

Since he was elected in November, Donald Trump has threatened to axe federal grants and programs to eliminate what he sees as “waste” and “bloat.” The organizations on the chopping block say public safety grants they received from the Justice Department’s Office of Justice Programs (OJP).

“Federal grants are actually really hard to acquire,” Choi said. “You have to have a track record. You have to demonstrate that you have the capacity to meet the deliverables. And so we believe this isn’t a budget cut, it’s really a betrayal to communities across the country that puts countless people’s safety, lives and livelihoods at risk.”

Organizations represented in the lawsuit also say that the funding cuts could threaten public safety.

Nick Turner, the president of the Vera Institute of Justice, an organization that researches solutions to end mass incarceration, said that the termination of funding “undermines the very programs and services that save lives and make communities safer.” 

Stop AAPI Hate had already received around $500,000 of its $2 million grant before the grants were terminated. The organization had also recently submitted a report about the work they had done with the portion of the funding it received.

“So I think it is important to note that the termination of the grants was not based on deliverables not being met or any question about the quality of our work,” Choi said. “It was just an abrupt illegal decision to terminate a grant that was authorized by Congress.”

Choi added that Stop AAPI Hate’s decision to join the lawsuit goes beyond the termination of the public safety grants. 

“This is really about challenging the illegal cuts,” she said. “This is about speaking out. This is about really challenging the Trump administration that paints himself as a champion of law and order and but then his administration illegal canceling, illegally cancels hundreds of public safety grants.”

Choi understands that many people are motivated to speak out. She pointed to a recent report released by Stop AAPI Hate that found that 82% of people it surveyed are optimistic about AA/PI communities’ power to end racism and 67% are motivated to get involved in justice and equity efforts.

“I think that that is something that we need to continue to remind ourselves that we have agency and power, and we need to speak up and fight back against injustice, not just for our own communities, but also against others,” she said.