“Institutions that take federal money only to allow antisemitism and promote divisive D.E.I. policies are putting their access to federal funds at risk,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a statement. “This Department of Justice will not tolerate these violations of civil rights — inaction is not an option.”

Entities receiving federal funding must be compliant with civil rights laws in order to continue receiving the funding. The Trump administration has found numerous institutions, especially schools, in violation of civil rights statutes such as Title VI, Title VII, and Title IX due to race-based opportunities, scholarships, and hiring, a lack of enforcement of campus antisemitism, and allowing transgender-identifying biological males to compete in women’s sports.

These violations have resulted in billions of dollars of federal funding being pulled from universities across the country. However, the Trump administration is taking it a step further and accusing these institutions of fraud for accepting federal funds tied to their compliance with civil rights laws.

Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a memo to staff that the department will seek fines and damages in most instances where violations are found, but noted the DOJ will consider criminal prosecutions in what it views as extreme circumstances. Blanche said each of the country’s 93 U.S. Attorneys’ offices will be required to appoint a prosecutor to contribute to the effort.

The Civil War-era False Claims Act allows the government to recover funds that have been lost due to fraud and impose penalties, according to the DOJ.

The New York Times reported last week that the Trump administration used the False Claims Act to investigate whether Harvard University’s admission policies comply with a Supreme Court ruling that ended affirmative action.

DEMOCRATIC ATTORNEYS GENERAL EMERGE AS SOME OF THE ONLY REAL RESISTANCE AGAINST TRUMP 2.0

This initiative will be a joint project of the department’s anti-fraud unit and its Civil Rights Division, the latter of which has been severely downsized.

The Justice Department’s announcement is part of Trump’s broader effort to pressure universities into ditching DEI initiatives by withholding federal funds. Trump has repeatedly claimed that universities spread anti-American, Marxist, and “radical left” ideologies. Many institutions have already eliminated DEI programs in accordance with Trump’s orders, but that has not necessarily spared them from funding cuts related to other civil rights violations.