FNUSA Files Federal Lawsuit Over Anti-DEI Executive Orders

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Lawyers’ Committee Sues Trump Administration Over Anti-DEI Executive Orders on Behalf of Freedom Network USA

Today, Freedom Network USA (FNUSA) filed a lawsuit against the Trump Administration, challenging executive orders that severely restrict and chill Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion initiatives and jeopardize the future of its work to protect and advocate for human trafficking survivors. FNUSA is represented by a team of civil rights lawyers from the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, Chicago Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and pro-bono counsel Crowell & Moring LLP. The lawsuit, filed with the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois Eastern Division, asks the court for a preliminary and permanent injunction to block the enforcement of the executive orders as unlawful and unconstitutional.

FNUSA is the nation’s largest survivor and advocate-led anti-trafficking coalition, and through its programs provides connections to housing resources, legal and social service support, and second chances for survivors of human trafficking. The organization and its coalition serve over 4,000 survivors annually and provide technical assistance to more than 1,000 stakeholders from social service providers to community organizers.

Seventy percent of FNUSA’s funding comes from the Department of Justice through grants authorized by Congress in the Trafficking Victims Protection Act. President Trump’s anti-DEI executive orders call for the termination of “equity-related” federal grants and contracts. The Department of Justice has subsequently censored Freedom Network USA from using everyday terms like “gender,” “racial” and “accessibility,” in its federally funded work which are central to FNUSA’s mission. As an organization that serves those who are most at risk of confronting barriers due to their trafficking—especially Black and Brown, immigrant, and LGBTQ+ survivors—the censorship and restrictions caused by the executive orders threaten the core of its work and its ability to effectuate the promise of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act.

Under these circumstances, FNUSA faces censorship under the pressure to keep its grant or an outright termination of its grant in addition to exposure to liability under the False Claims Act. Both scenarios severely impede the organization’s ability to fulfill its mission.

“Freedom Network USA was founded to fill a critical gap in the anti-trafficking field. Since its inception, FNUSA has confronted systemic disparities that make survivors vulnerable to trafficking. Addressing these root causes is the only way to truly prevent and respond to trafficking,” said Jean Bruggeman, co-executive director at Freedom Network USA.

“Equity is at the very core of our work, from the first-of-their-kind national standards of care for service providers that we’re developing, to maintaining the only national program providing criminal record relief for survivors of human trafficking through our Survivor Reentry Project. We cannot meaningfully function without this recognition, nor should we be forced to. We refuse to abandon or silence survivors. FNUSA is standing up in court to voice what we’ve known for 25 years: to prevent trafficking and protect survivors as Congress intended, we must let all survivors, regardless of their background and trafficking experience, speak their truth,” added Karen Romero, co-executive director at FNUSA.

“These executive orders attempt to silence Freedom Network USA, and by extension, the voices of thousands of survivors of human trafficking,” said Shaylyn Cochran, deputy executive director of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. “Freedom Network USA provides critical, life-saving services that reach every corner of the country to survivors of all backgrounds– including Black and Brown women, who often are more vulnerable to sex trafficking compared to other groups. The attempts by the Executive Branch to silence Freedom Network USA is contrary to the intent of Congress and therefore unconstitutional. Moreover, it will have devastating consequences, and it will be felt by the most vulnerable communities. Equity is not unlawful, and treating it as such will endanger real people. We demand better for survivors, and we’re fighting alongside Freedom Network USA to ensure that the Constitution protects their voices despite these discriminatory attacks.”

Ultimately, the anti-equity executive orders make it more difficult to explicitly tackle the systemic disparities and barriers that perpetuate human trafficking, making FNUSA less effective in its mission.

“Equity is not just nice to have, it’s central to FNUSA’s work and necessary to fully address the needs of the survivors they serve,” said Sabrina Talukder, senior counsel with the Economic Justice Project at the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. “Jeopardizing this work would inflict tangible harm on thousands of Americans who are vulnerable to exploitation, and it will signal to millions more that our government does not care about understanding the experiences of survivors. We have a duty to stand up and ensure that survivors have the resources they need and that the organizations that serve them can continue to freely operate.”

“These executive orders threaten the work of organizations like Freedom Network USA by restricting their equity-driven programs leaving survivors without support and deepening existing inequities,” said Aneel Chablani, Vice President and Legal Director with Chicago Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights. “It is critical to protect nonprofit organizations’ freedom to pursue their lawful missions without facing censorship, so that communities can continue receiving these necessary and life-saving services.”

Read the complaint here.

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About the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law: Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization, formed in 1963 at the request of President John F. Kennedy to mobilize the nation’s leading lawyers as agents for change in the Civil Rights Movement. Today, the Lawyers’ Committee uses legal advocacy to achieve racial justice, fighting inside and outside the courts to ensure that Black people and other people of color have the voice, opportunity, and power to make the promises of our democracy real. The Lawyers’ Committee implements its mission and objectives by marshaling the pro bono resources of the bar for litigation, public policy, advocacy and other forms of service by lawyers to the cause of civil rights.

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