Attorney General Eric Holder last month announced reforms to asset forfeitures, the controversial government practice of seizing property associated with alleged illicit activity. But the new Justice Department budget released this week projects the changes will barely cut into federal seizures.
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Asset forfeiture was vastly expanded during the war on drugs. The new Justice Department budget shows that the Drug Enforcement Administration, the agency in the middle of the drug war, won’t be much affected by Holder’s reforms, either. The DEA’s proceeds from asset forfeiture and another federal program will hold steady at an estimated $548 million in fiscal 2015 and 2016.
