Tycoon George Soros donated at least $35 million to anti-police groups, candidates and initiatives in 2021. This is evidenced in the tax returns of its network of NGO's gathered under their Open Society Foundations network during the past year.
In a statement to Fox News, Laleh Ispahani, the Open Society-USA co-director, highlighted the network's commitment to crime and security, but put the spotlight on the problems in alleged abuse of power by state actors: "The Open Society Foundations is proud to have been one of the earliest and most robust supporters of efforts to address the issues of crime and public safety while protecting freedoms that Americans hold dear. We have supported reforms to our criminal justice system that enjoy broad support across the political spectrum. We believe that our freedoms are threatened when state actors are above the law, and that accountability is even more essential when they are given the right to use force on behalf of the government."
"State actors above the law."
Ispahani was especially critical of police violence, and pointed out that what the NGO is doing is providing financial backing to causes seeking out new alternatives for citizen security. "The level of police violence, particularly impacting communities of color, has spurred reform efforts across the country. As an example, the co-director again turned to George Floyd. "Since George Floyd's murder, many communities have increased spending on police surveillance, while deaths at the hands of the police have continued to rise to new heights."
In response, Ispahani noted that "Open Society supports the exploration and development of policies that actually work to reduce crime and defers to communities regarding what alternatives make sense or are better suited to them. Whether that includes shifting funding currently allocated to policing into services that actually work to address crime and improve public safety is up to them."
"Police reform"
This explains why Soros' Open Society Policy Center gave $15 million to Tides Advocacy for the Electoral Justice Project, tax forms provided by OSF to Fox News Digital reveal the numbers. This project is led by a coalition of 50 Black Lives Matter groups advocating police defunding and criminal justice reform.
In addition, the Foundation to Promote Open Society, another Soros NGO, gave $10 million to Borealis Philanthropy, also close to Black Lives Matter, for its Black-Led Movement Fund. This entity received another $10.75 million for its Community Policing Transformation Fund (CTPF) to "identify, support and nurture promising community-based policing reform campaigns."
"Damages due to state violence"
As seen on its website, CTPF "values and resources work that addresses both the immediate harm caused by state violence and systemic changes necessary to create healthy, well-resourced communities, and transformative safety responses." In addition, "CTPF supports groups to build power, increase police accountability and transparency, end criminalization, and shift power and resources away from punitive, reactive, and carceral responses to preventative, transformative community-based safety strategies."
The Fox News investigation indicates that the Foundation to Promote Open Society transferred $1.75 million to the New Venture Fund for the Community Resource Center for Security and Accountability. This is a resource sharing point for local progressive activists on how best to address police reform efforts, including materials on police abolition and defunding.
"Preventive security strategies".
In addition, Soros contributed $500,000 to the failed attempt to "dismantle" and replace the Minneapolis Police Department. With its funding, 33 organizations converged in Vote Yes 4 Minneapolis campaign with the goal of replacing police officers with a public safety agency.
From the Open Society Policy Center, Soros granted half a million dollars to Equity PAC to oppose the city "unnecessarily" increasing the "hiring of new police officers." The Foundation to Promote Open Society provided another $200,000 to the Austin Justice Coalition to "educate the public about policing, the influence of police unions, and ways to keep communities safe without relying on the police."
Donations to progressive prosecutors
On top of all this, records show that Soros has donated large amounts of money to several far-left candidates running for the position of state prosecutor across the country. For example, District Attorneys Larry Krasner in Philadelphia, Kim Foxx in Chicago, Kim Gardner in St. Louis or George Gascón in Los Angeles have all received huge sums of money from Soros.
