The DOJ quietly closed more than 23,000 criminal cases in the first six months of Donald Trump’s second administration
-- abandoning hundreds of investigations into terrorism,
white-collar crime, drugs and other offenses
-- as it shifted resources to pursue immigration cases.

The bulk of these cases,
which were closed without prosecution and known as declinations,
had been referred to the DOJ by law enforcement agencies under prior administrations
that believed a federal crime may have been committed.

The DOJ routinely declines to prosecute cases for any number of reasons,
including insufficient evidence or because a case is not a priority for enforcement.

But the number of declinations under AG Pam Bondi marks a striking departure
not only from the Biden administration
but also the first Trump term,

ProPublica determined the increase is not the result of inheriting a larger caseload or more referrals from law enforcement.

In February 2025 alone,
which included the first weeks of Bondi’s tenure,
nearly 11,000 cases were declined,
the most in a month since at least 2004.

The previous high was just over 6,500 cases in September 2019,
during Trump’s first administration.

Some of the cases shut down were the result of yearslong investigations by federal agencies such as the FBI and the Drug Enforcement Administration.

For complex cases, the DOJ can take years before deciding whether to bring charges.

https://www.propublica.org/article/trump-doj-immigration-bondi-declinations-criminal-investigations