In a letter to Director Peter Marocco of the Office of U.S. Foreign Assistance, HLF President Mario H. Lopez urged the Trump Administration to end wasteful foreign aid that enables human rights violations, mass incarceration without due process, and lawfare against political opponents by the Dominican government.

“For years, millions of taxpayer dollars have gone to the Dominican Republic, including towards so-called “rule of law” programs, with the claim that such programs would strengthen the Dominican justice system. Instead, corruption worsened, abuse surged, and the Dominican government continued to disregard due process—with U.S. citizens and legal permanent residents caught in the crossfire,” said Lopez.

The letter to Director Marocco outlines how U.S. foreign assistance funneled into a corrupt and dysfunctional justice system that enables lawfare against political opponents, leading to:

  • Unlawful detention of U.S. citizens and legal permanent residents—a crisis formally raised by Rep. Michael McCaul (R-TX) in a 2023 letter to Secretary Blinken.
  • Mass incarceration without due process—with over 60% of the Dominican prison population held without charges or trials, some for up to 20 years.
  • Government-backed lawfare—where 98% of all coercive measures requested by prosecutors in 2024 resulted in preventive detention, turning Dominican jails into U.S.-funded holding pens for the innocent.
  • Severe human rights violations—with 26,000 inmates crammed into facilities designed for just 12,000, where detainees sleep on urine-soaked floors and endure physical abuse.

The Trump Administration’s Opportunity to End Biden’s Lawfare in the DR

The Hispanic Leadership Fund urges Director Marocco to take swift action and:

  1. Conduct a full audit of all U.S. foreign assistance—particularly through USAID—that has been funneled into the Dominican Republic’s justice system to weaponize the judicial system against the opposition political party.
  2. Freeze all U.S. taxpayer funding to the Dominican government until it proves it is no longer violating due process or imprisoning American citizens and legal permanent residents without cause.
  3. Launch an immediate investigation into how much U.S. foreign assistance has been used to fund lawfare programs that have propped up an abusive system.

“For over 25 years, international watchdogs have strongly condemned the Dominican Republic’s blatant disregard for due process. Yet, despite years of warnings and billions in U.S. foreign aid, nothing has changed…We urge you to condemn the use of preventative detention and other authoritarian measures, hold the Dominican Republic accountable, and end the use of American taxpayer dollars for these anti-democratic purposes,” said Lopez.

The full letter is available here and copied below:

Dear Director Marocco:

I write to bring urgent attention to the misuse of U.S. taxpayer dollars under the previous administration—one that President Trump must not allow to continue.

For years, millions of taxpayer dollars have gone to the Dominican Republic, including towards so-called “rule of law” programs, with the claim that such programs would strengthen the Dominican justice system. Instead, corruption worsened, abuse surged, and the Dominican government continued to disregard due process—with U.S. citizens and legal permanent residents caught in the crossfire.

Over the last few years there have been a steady flow of reporting about these issues.  Most recently, the Associated Press pointed out the serious crises within the Dominican Republic’s criminal justice system.

The United States should not fund a justice system that detains thousands without charges or trials.  There has been a severe lack of accountability, oversight, and no effort whatsoever to track or free Americans trapped in this mess.

For over a decade, the Dominican Republic has been one of the top recipients of funding under the Caribbean Basin Security Initiative (CBSI). According to the State Department, the Dominican Republic received nearly 30% of all CBSI funding from 2015 through 2023. Yet, despite receiving tens of millions in U.S. aid over the past several years, they have consistently failed to meet the core pillars of the CBSI—the reduction of illicit trafficking, improvement of public safety, and promotion of social justice.

USAID alone poured millions into “reform programs” that did nothing but empower corrupt prosecutors and turn Dominican prisons into U.S. taxpayer-funded human warehouses. I strongly encourage you to see it for yourself.  Meanwhile, the Biden Administration ignored every warning sign, including their own reports exposing the lack of progress.

Here’s what U.S. tax dollars were really funding:

The Dominican Republic should not get a pass to continue the use of U.S. tax dollars with no oversight.

We encourage your office to pursue:

  1. A full accounting of how much U.S. foreign assistance—particularly through USAID—was funneled into the Dominican Republic’s justice system.
  2. A freeze on all U.S. taxpayer dollars directed toward the Dominican government until they prove they are no longer violating due process or illegally imprisoning American citizens and legal permanent residents.
  3. An immediate investigation into how much U.S. foreign assistance money has been used to fund the Dominican Republic’s lawfare programs.

For over 25 years, international watchdogs have strongly condemned the Dominican Republic’s blatant disregard for due process. Yet, despite years of warnings and billions in U.S. foreign aid, nothing has changed. The Dominican government took the money, ignored reforms, and kept violating the rule of law.

We urge you to condemn the use of preventative detention and other authoritarian measures, hold the Dominican Republic accountable, and end the use of American taxpayer dollars for these anti-democratic purposes.

Sincerely,

Mario H. Lopez

President, Hispanic Leadership Fund/Dominican Justice Initiative

cc:

The Honorable Marco Rubio

Secretary

State U.S. Department of State

2201 C Street NW

Washington, DC 20520

Mr. Elon Musk

Chair

Department of Government Efficiency

1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW

Washington, DC 20500