Kristi Noem pulls $18.5M in Biden-era grants for 'ideologically driven' DEI and LGBTQ programs

WASHINGTON, DC: It’s raining budget cuts in DC. The Department of Homeland Security appears to have thrown a DEI demolition party, and everyone from radical youth groups to Ivy League elites is getting the boot.

On Thursday, July 17, DHS, backed by Secretary Kristi Noem, eliminated a whopping $18.5 million in taxpayer-funded grants that had been distributed through its Center for Prevention Programs and Partnerships (CP3). What the Joe Biden administration saw as community programs, DHS has now labeled “ideologically driven.”

“These cancellations reflect DHS’s commitment to fiscal responsibility and national security,” DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin told Fox News. “By eliminating wasteful and ideologically driven programs, we are redirecting resources to initiatives that uphold American values, respect the rule of law, and effectively combat terrorism and violence.”

Major DHS funding cuts hit hate summit and K–12 gender programs

Among the biggest losses in this funding cull is $851,836 that was intended for the Eradicate Hate Global Summit, which DHS describes as essentially a DEI organization in progressive clothing.

Also included is $209,407 meant for Supporting and Mentoring Youth Advocates and Leaders, a group DHS claims pushes “radical gender ideology learning to K–12 students,” even allegedly targeting kindergartners.

CP3 came into existence in 2021, replacing the Office of Targeted Violence and Terrorism Prevention. It was originally designed to be a forward-thinking, public health-inspired arm of DHS, aimed at preventing violence and terrorism before it starts.

But things shifted under Joe Biden, whose administration infused DEI values into nearly every department in DC, including CP3’s grant pipeline. However, that pipeline is now dry.

Of course, this isn’t DHS’s first major spending cut. Just last month, the department pulled the plug on $1.5 million in similar grants, also approved during the Biden era, which had been quietly funneled into comparable organizations.

A DHS spokesperson said the agency's DOGE-like approach means taxpayer dollars are now being “redirected to efforts that actually protect the American people.” 

DHS pulls funding from Harvard University amid scrutiny of campus ideology and visa records

Back in April, Kristi Noem set her sights on Harvard University and canceled more than $2.7 million in DHS grants to the Ivy League giant.

According to a DHS press release, Noem demanded that Harvard provide “detailed records on Harvard’s foreign student visa holders’ illegal and violent activities.”

She did not hold back.

“Harvard bending the knee to antisemitism, driven by its spineless leadership, fuels a cesspool of extremist riots and threatens our national security,” Noem said at the time. “With anti-American, pro-Hamas ideology poisoning its campus and classrooms, Harvard’s position as a top institution of higher learning is a distant memory. America demands more from universities entrusted with taxpayer dollars.”

According to the DHS breakdown, one of the revoked Harvard grants, worth $800,303, reportedly “branded conservatives as far-right dissidents in a shockingly skewed study,” while the other, totaling $1,934,902, was tagged as “funding Harvard’s public health propaganda.”

Harvard’s resistance to Donald Trump admin costs $2.2B in frozen grants

Naturally, Harvard wasn’t about to sit there and nod in agreement. When the Donald Trump administration demanded that Harvard adjust its protesting policies and rethink its DEI strategies, the school hit back hard.

“No government, regardless of which party is in power, should dictate what private universities can teach, whom they can admit and hire, and which areas of study and inquiry they can pursue,” said Harvard President Alan Garber in a message to the university community.

However, that message came at a cost. Not long after Harvard refused to budge, the Trump administration froze a jaw-dropping $2.2 billion in multiyear grants tied to the school.

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