Freedom Network USA (FNUSA)

Background

Freedom Network USA (FNUSA) is a coalition of advocacy groups in the United States that promotes policies and action towards reducing human trafficking through advocacy, training, and capacity building. It claims to use a “transformative approach to human trafficking that is grounded in anti-racism and anti-oppression” while providing increased support for survivors of human trafficking. ¹

FNUSA was established in 2001 by a group of human trafficking service providers, and as of October 2025 the Coalition consists of roughly 54 organizations and 41 individual experts. ^{2  3}

Projects

The Freedom Network USA Survivor Reentry Project helps trafficking survivors clear criminal records through a network of pro bono lawyers. It provides training to attorneys on this process. ⁴ FNUSA established the Freedom Network Training Institute which provides in-person and online training and resources on the basics of human trafficking and on anti-trafficking policies to reduce human trafficking and improve victim support. ⁵

Advocacy

Freedom Network USA advocates for funding increases to grant programs from the Department of Justice and the Department of Health and Human Services to support trafficking victims of all ages, genders, and immigration statuses. It lobbies for increased services including housing, legal services, healthcare, and immigration assistance. ⁶

FNUSA advocates for criminal record relief and changes to immigration policies to expand civil remedies for trafficking survivors. ⁶

In 2021 FNUSA publicly supported the decriminalization of sex work in the United States.  ⁷

In November 2024 FNUSA and over 190 other social justice organizations co-signed and sent a letter organized by Detention Watch Network to then-President Joe Biden and then-Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas urging them to release undocumented migrants from detention facilities, close all migrant detention facilities, and to reduce detention efforts before the Second Trump Administration began. Other activist organizations which signed the letter included Americans for Immigrant Justice, the Black Alliance for Just Immigration, Defending Rights and Dissent, Freedom for Immigrants, Human Rights Watch, the Immigrant Defense Project, the Immigrant Legal Resource Center, the National Immigrant Justice Center, the Center for Popular Democracy, Showing Up for Racial Justice, and the UndocuBlack Network. ^{8  9}

In July 2025, FNUSA was one of over 600 organizations to co-sign and send a statement to the U.S Congress titled “Solidarity with Targeted Nonprofits.” The statement opposed Congressional inquiries into nonprofits, claiming they were politically motivated. The statement was in response to previous letters sent out by the House Homeland Security Committee to hundreds of nonprofits requesting information regarding their funding. ¹⁰ Other signers of the statement include the AFL-CIO, the Alliance for a Just Society, the Center for Progressive Reform, the Civil Liberties Defense Center, the Climate Justice Alliance, the Democracy Defenders Fund, Earthworks, Funders for Justice, Indivisible, the League of Conservation Voters, the National Abortion Federation, the National Institute for Reproductive Health, People Power United, the Planned Parenthood Action Fund, the Service Employees International Union, Solidaire Network, the Transgender Law Center, and Women’s March. ¹¹

In October 2025 FNUSA organized a campaign to restore $88 million in Department of Justice (DOJ) funding cuts urging members to send letters to the DOJ leadership demanding a release of funds to restore services to support human trafficking survivors. ^{12  13}

As of October 2025 FNUSA filed a lawsuit against the second Trump administration challenging its anti-diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) executive orders, claiming that they restrict the group’s ability to do its work. It is being represented by the Lawyers for Civil Rights. ¹⁴

Members

As of 2025, Coalition members include the Florence Immigrant and Refugee Rights Project, the International Rescue Committee, the Coalition to Abolish Slavery and Trafficking, the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles, the Rocky Mountain Immigrant Advocacy Network, the Connecticut Institute for Refugees and Immigrants, Americans for Immigrant Justice, the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, the National Immigrant Justice Center, Ayuda, Safe Horizon, the Sex Workers Project at the Urban Justice Center, the Worker Justice Center of New York, and the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project. ¹⁵

Funding

In 2023, Freedom Network USA received government grants totaling $1,266,602 which was seventy percent of its total revenues of $1,817,895. ¹⁶

Donors to FNUSA include Humanity United Action, the Dressember Foundation, the Arizona State University Foundation For A New American University, NEO Philanthropy, Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors, Donor Advised Charitable Giving, the American Online Giving Foundation, and the Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund. ¹⁷

Leadership

Rebecca Middleton was board chair of Freedom Network USA until March 2025. Middleton is chief advocacy and engagement officer for the World Food Program USA. Previously she was executive director of the Alliance to End Hunger. She is a board member of Bread for the World and the Alliance to End Hunger. ¹⁸

Darci Flynn is the FNUSA board chair as of November 2025. She is the founder and principal consultant of Brave Path Strategies. Previously she was director of gender-based violence strategy and policy in the Chicago mayor’s office. ^{19  20}

Jean Bruggeman and Karen Romero are co-executive directors of FNUSA. Bruggeman was previously the executive director prior to Romero becoming co-executive director in October 2025. ²¹ Bruggeman graduated from Georgetown University with a law degree. She has held roles at the Partnership for Civil Justice, the National Women’s Law Center, Ayuda, Boat People SOS, and the Nonprofit Roundtable. She was a human trafficking fellow for the Office for Victims of Crime at the Department of Justice during the Obama administration before joining FNUSA in 2015. ²²

Romero joined FNUSA in 2018. Previously she had positions with the American Red Cross, the Utah chapter of the YWCA, Ayuda, and the Polaris Project. ²³