The U.S. Department of Homeland Security is reviewing current federal security grant allocations and revoking funds from groups with alleged ties to terrorist organizations, Fox News reported on Wednesday.
The department has already canceled 49 projects “with alleged affiliations to terrorist activities,” which it estimates will save $8 million, according to the outlet.
“The Department of Homeland Security and FEMA will no longer fund grant projects that have alleged affiliations with terrorist activities,” a DHS spokesperson told JNS.
“Under the leadership of Secretary Noem, DHS and FEMA are conducting a comprehensive assessment of all grants to root out waste, fraud and abuse,” the spokesperson said. “Unlike the previous administration, grants will no longer be used to empower radical organizations with questionable ties that don’t serve the interests of the American people.”
DHS also stated that applicants for fiscal year 2025 will undergo a more “robust” vetting process, according to Fox News.
The department’s actions follow a Middle East Forum report released in July that found more than $25 million in DHS grants went toward extremist groups with ties to Islamist terror groups between 2013 and 2023. The department’s independent review is primarily focused on the Nonprofit Security Grant Program, which the MEF report said is “the greatest source of DHS funding to extremist groups.”
Rep. August Pfluger (R-Texas), chair of the House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Counterterrorism and Intelligence, told JNS that “no organization with ties to Islamist terrorists or anti-American, antisemitic extremist groups should ever receive a single taxpayer dollar.”
“It is unacceptable that any of these groups received taxpayer funding in the first place, least of all through DHS grants designed to combat these same types of groups here at home,” Pfluger said. “President Trump is delivering on his promise to restore accountability in government by ending this misuse of taxpayer funds and refocusing DHS back to its core mission.”
Gregg Roman, executive director of Middle East Forum, told JNS that “we will not rest until every last cent allocated to terrorist-aligned groups is returned to American taxpayers.”
“The systematic failures we’ve exposed at both USAID and DHS demonstrate an internal threat that is far more insidious than most Americans realize,” Roman said. “Our investigations have now saved taxpayers over $130 million that would have otherwise enriched organizations hostile to American interests and values.”
