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Text: This Week at Justice
April 5, 2024 AG Garland: Earlier this year, we announced an additional
surge of resources to Washington, D.C., to combat violent crime in our nation’s capital.
Today, we are launching the next phase of our Violent Crime Initiative in St. Louis, Missouri;
Jackson, Mississippi; and Hartford, Connecticut. AG Garland: Today I am announcing that the Department will be making a $78 million investment in community
violence intervention programs and research. Acting ASG Mizer: We come here today as your partners in public
safety. But we also come as humble listeners, eager to learn the lessons that you have absorbed
from your years of experience. The Department of Justice deeply values your work, and we are eager
to build on the collaboration that we began when we launched the Community Violence Intervention
and Prevention Initiative two years ago. AAG Solomon: It’s about reaching the organizations that reflect
these communities, are designed to serve them, are located within them and are closest to the
problems that we seek to solve. Now with the help of our intermediary partners, we are bridging
the gap to federal funding for grassroots groups, we are promoting more equitable access
to our resources and tapping into the enormous wealth of expertise that
these leaders bring to the table. AG Garland: This report makes clear that black-market
guns sold by unlicensed dealers without a background check are increasingly being
found at crime scenes. Under the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, the Justice
Department has proposed a new rule to clarify when gun dealers must get licenses and conduct
background checks. The Department is also vigorously enforcing the new
provisions Congress passed in the Act to prohibit illegal gun trafficking and
straw purchasing. AG Garland: As this sentence makes clear, hate crimes
fueled by Islamophobia, or by bias of any kind, will be met with the full force of the Justice Department. No person in this country should have to live in fear because
of who they are, what they look like, or how they pray. DAG Monaco: Combating firearms trafficking networks that arm
the Mexican cartels is a top Department of Justice priority. The 13-year sentence imposed in this case reflects
the severity of the crime — and years of difficult and dangerous work by ATF agents
and their law enforcement partners. Because of their efforts, the Department kept scores of high-powered
firearms out of the hands of the Mexican cartels and secured the conviction and lengthy sentences
of the traffickers responsible. AG Garland: Countless American lives have been lost
because of the Jalisco and Sinaloa Cartels. Over the past three years, the Justice Department has
zeroed in on these cartels, and with these arrests of dozens of
Jalisco Cartel associates, we are taking yet another step in our fight to
dismantle these deadly organizations. Announcements of arrests, indictments, criminal complaints, charges or
similar which may be described in this video are merely accusations. Each defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty. Licensed Music: "Tension News Waiting” by Louis Perez
