The Trump administration will disband the department responsible for combatting transnational crime.

The Trump administration is dismantling a department within the Department of Justice that has long played a central role in combating transnational organized crime networks, drug trafficking groups, and human trafficking rings. Sources say the head of the department, known as the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF), has been informed that they must cease operations by September 30. An email sent by a budget analyst at the Department of Justice to a budget analyst at OCDETF last Monday stated that the department's budget for fiscal year 2026 will be "zeroed out" and the independent office will be dissolved. Last Friday, the White House released the government's budget request for 2026, proposing to cut a total of $163 billion in spending. The Department of Justice is one of the agencies facing significant budget cuts. OCDETF, established by President Reagan in 1982, is made up of hundreds of prosecutors and thousands of intelligence and law enforcement officers from various federal government departments.