The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) affirmed that it will stop work on the $1.776 billion “Anti-Weaponization” Fund following a district judge’s ruling temporarily halting any payouts from the program.
In a statement on X, the DOJ condemned the U.S. District Court in the Eastern District of Virginia’s ruling on the fund, “wherein the Court stated that, under no circumstances, may the Department of Justice proceed with the Anti-Weaponization Fund.”
“This Fund was open to anybody who was so weaponized, targeted, or persecuted, whether they were Democrat, Republican, Conservative, Independent, or otherwise,” the DOJ argued, claiming that it was established “in order to make up for the tremendous abuse, harm, and hate unfairly shown to so many people.”
“The Department will abide by the Court’s ruling,” the statement concluded.
U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema recently issued an order temporarily prohibiting the DOJ from moving forward with the fund to "ensure that no funds are irreversibly disbursed" from it. The hold is set to be placed while she considers whether to issue longer-term relief.
Senate GOP Not Satisfied With DOJ's Statement
The Justice Department’s statement comes after the fund received intense pushback from Congressional Republicans.
According to CBS News, the outcry from Republicans was so significant that it “threatened to imperil the GOP agenda on Capitol Hill.”
Politico recently reported that the DOJ’s statement was not strong enough to “clear the intraparty concerns” that have thrown the Republican Party’s immigration enforcement budget reconciliation bill into “limbo.”
GOP members are instead calling on President Donald Trump to make a more explicit move to renounce the program.
Prior to Congress’ Memorial Day Recess, Senate Republicans held a closed-door meeting with Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche to address concerns about the fund.
Blanche’s attempts to quash the increased GOP pushback backfired, as Republican lawmakers sought ways to impose guardrails on the fund to preserve the Senate majority on the $70 billion budget reconciliation bill for immigration enforcement.
