In a new letter to the Trump administration, the Hispanic Leadership Fund (HLA) urges Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s team to shut down the Biden administration’s global lawfare school funded by U.S. taxpayers.

The Judicial Studies Institute (JSI) – run by the DOJ and bankrolled by the State Department – trains foreign prosecutors and judges in Latin America and the Caribbean.

In reality, JSI was a tool for the Biden administration to carry out targeted persecution against his opponents abroad, resulting in indefinite detentions and the erosion of due process – all on the American taxpayer’s dime.

In the letter, HLF highlights abuses at the hands of JSI in the Dominican Republic:

“The Dominican Republic’s ongoing abuse of preventive detention – where individuals, including U.S. citizens and legal permanent residents, are held without charge – is evidence that the American dollars used to prop up the JSI have been completely wasted. Continuing to fund JSI will only embolden these lawless tactics and further destabilize the region.”

HLF launched a dedicated program – the Dominican Justice Initiative (DJI) – to highlight the severe human rights violations taking place in the country.

Here are key facts that were denied by the Biden administration:

Sadly, these jails were funded by U.S. taxpayers.

It’s time to shut down the JSI.

Read the full letter here:

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Dear Assistant Secretary Weiland and Director Marocco:

We support the goal of ensuring that U.S. foreign assistance is aligned with America’s national and economic interests. Therefore, we write to draw your attention to a program that should be properly scrutinized: the Judicial Studies Institute (JSI).

JSI operates under the pretense of improving legal systems throughout Latin America, such as training judges and public prosecutors. The truth tells a different story.

Managed by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) but funded by the U.S. Department of State, JSI has been used for political persecution and lawfare against political opponents throughout the Western Hemisphere.

JSI endeavors in the Dominican Republic might be the best example. JSI-trained prosecutors and judges are the architects of the country’s ongoing preventive detention crisis – a system of unjust imprisonment that has left thousands languishing behind bars without charge, trial, or access to legal counsel. According to a recent analysis by the Associated Press, over 60 percent of the Dominican Republic’s roughly 26,000 inmates are being held without due process – a clear violation of international human rights standards.

JSI’s harmful influence does not end there. Officials within the Public Ministry who are leading similar cases against political opponents have received training from JSI. Dominican authorities have even admitted to using a “strategic model of persecution.”

U.S. Representative Troy Nehls petitioned the DOJ’s inspector general to investigate whether the DOJ is funding programs that enable these abusive tactics.

The Dominican Republic’s ongoing abuse of preventive detention – where individuals, including U.S. citizens and legal permanent residents, are held without charge – is evidence that the American dollars used to prop up the JSI have been completely wasted. Continuing to fund JSI will only embolden these lawless tactics and further destabilize the region.

Given that the Judicial Studies Institute has demonstrated no measurable benefit in advancing judicial integrity, we urge you to halt all funding to the program. In addition, a full investigation into the oversight of the JSI program is warranted to determine how much funding has been directed toward JSI and whether these resources have been used to facilitate politically prosecutions, especially against U.S. Citizens and Legal Permanent Residents.

We hope you will take swift action to end this misuse of taxpayer funds and ensure that future foreign assistance programs advance – rather than undermine – the rule of law.

Sincerely,

Mario H. Lopez

President, Hispanic Leadership Fund / Dominican Justice Initiative